


































































LECTURES 


REVIVALS OF RELIGION. 



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#'■ 


BY CHARLES a FINNEY. 

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FROM NOTES BY THE EDITOR OF THE N. Y. EVANGELIST, 
REVISED BY THE AUTHOR. 




SIXTH EDITION, EACH 2000 COPIES. 


NEW YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY LEAVITT, LORD & CO. 

180 Broadway. 

BOSTON:-CROCKER & BREWSTER, 

47 Washington-street. \ 

1 8 35 . . 












Entered, 

/' 1 

According to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by 

CHARLES G. FINNEY AND JOSHUA LEAVITT, 

In the Clerk’s office, of the District Court, of the Southern District of 

New York. 


* 
















•Gift 

Mrs.Hennen 

April 26, 1933 

± 

Or 

- nS 

STEREOTYPED BY F. F. RIPLEY, 

NEW YORK. 








THE LECTURER’S PREFACE. 


Let it be remembered , that these Lectures were delivered to myovm con¬ 
gregation. They were entered upon, without my having previously 
marked out any plan or outline of them, and have been pursued, from 
week to week, as one subject naturally introduced another, and as, from 
one lecture to another, I saw the state of our people seemed to require. 

I consented to have the Editor of the Evangelist report them, upon 
his own responsibility, because he thought that it might excite a deeper 
interest in, and extend the usefulness of his paper. And as I am now a 
Pastor, and have not sufficient health to labour as an Evangelist, and as 
it has pleased the Head of the Church to give me some experience in 
revivals of religion, I thought it possible, that, while I was doing the 
work of a Pastor in my own church, I might, in this way, be of some 
little service to the churches abroad. 

I found a particular inducement to this course, in the fact, that on my 
return from the Mediterranean, I learned, with pain, that the spirit of 
revival had greatly declined in the United States, and that a spirit of 
jangling and controversy alarmingly prevailed. 

The peculiar circumstances of the church, and the state of revivals, was 
such, as unavoidably to lead me to the discussion of some points, that I 
would gladly have avoided, had the omission been consistent with my 
main design, to reach and arouse the church, when she was fast settling 
down upon her lees. 

I am far from setting up the claim of infallibility upon this or any other 
subject. I have given my own views, so far as I have gone, without pre¬ 
tending to have exhausted the subject, or to have spoken in the best pos¬ 
sible manner upon the points I have discussed. 

I am too well acquainted with the state of the church, and especially 
with the state of some of its ministers, to expect to escape without censure. 

I have felt obliged to say some things, that I fear will not, in all instances, 
be received as .kindly as they were intended. But whatever may be the 
result of saying the truth as it respects some, I have reason to believe, 
that the great body of praying people, will receive and be benefited by 
what I have said. 


nr 


PREFACE. 


What I have said upon the subject of prayer, will not, I am well aware, 
be understood and received by a certain portion of the church, and all I 
can say is, “ He that hath an ear to hear , let him hear” 

I had not the most distant idea until recently, that these Lectures, in 
this, or any other form, would ever grow into a book: but the urgent 
call for their publication, in a volume, and the fact that I have had re¬ 
peated assurances that the reading of them in the Evangelist, has been 
owned and blessed, to the quickening of individuals and churches, and 
has resulted in the conversion of many sinners, have led me to consent 
to their publication in this imperfect form. 

The Reporter has succeeded, in general, in giving an outline of the 
Lectures, as they were delivered. His report, however, would, in gen¬ 
eral make no more than a full skeleton of what was said on the subject, 
at the time. In justice to the Reporter, I would say, that on reading his 
reports, in his paper, although there were some mistakes and misappre¬ 
hensions, yet I have been surprised that, without stenography, he could 
so nearly report my meaning. 

As for literary merit, they have none; nor do they lay claim to any. 
It was no part of my design to deliver elegant Lectures. They were my 
most familiar Friday evening discourses; and my great, and I may add 
ray only object, was to have them understood and felt. 

In correcting the Lectures for a volume, I have not had time, nor 
was it thought advisable to remodel them, and change the style in which 
they had been reported. I have, in some few instances, changed the 
phraseology, when a thought had been very awkwardly expressed, or 
when the true idea had not been given. But I have, in nearly every in¬ 
stance, left the sentences as they were reported, when the thought was 
perspicuously expressed, although the style might have been improved 
by emendation. They were the editor’s reports, and as such they must 
go before the public; with such little additions and alterations, as I have 
had time to make. Could I have written them out in full, I doubt not 
but they might have been more acceptable to many readers. But this 
was impossible, and the only alternative was, to let the public have them 
as they are, or refuse to let them go out in the form of a volume at all. 
I am sorry they are not better Lectures, and in a more attracting form • 
but I have done what I could under the circumstances; and, as it is 
the wish of many whom I love, and delight to please and honour, to have 
them, although in this imperfect form, they must have them. 

C. G. FINNEY. 







ADVERTISEMENT BY THE REPORTER. 


The work of reporting these Lectures was undertaken for the purpose 
of increasing the interest and usefulness of the New-York Evangelist. 
The Reporter is wholly unacquainted with short hand, and has, therefore, 
only aimed to give a sketch of the leading thoughts of the Discourse. It 
is hardly necessary to mention, that Mr. Finney never writes his ser¬ 
mons ; but guides his course of argument by a skeleton, or brief, care¬ 
fully prepared, and so compact, that it can be written on one side of a 
card, about half as large as one of these printed pages. His manner is 
direct, and his language colloquial and Saxon, and his illustrations are 
drawn from the commonest incidents and maxims of life. The Reporter 
has aimed to preserve, as much as he could, the style of the speaker, and 
is thought to hjtve been in some degree successful. If, in any cases, by 
letting his language run in a colloquial strain, he has made the copy more 
simple and homely than the original, he hopes to be pardoned easily for 
a fault by no means prevalent. 

1 If any one should attempt to criticise the style of these Reports, he will 
assuredly lose his labour; for the only ambition of the Reporter has 
been, to make such a use of language as should fully convey the meaning, 
and fairly exhibit the manner of the Lecturer. When words have done 
this, they have done their great work. The notes were taken with a 
pencil, and transcribed ir. great haste, and sent to the printer without re¬ 
vision. In preparing them for republication, in this form, Mr. Finney 
has reviewed them, with reference only to this point—the correct ex¬ 
pression of the sentiment. The style of an off-hand sketch has been pre¬ 
served, partly of choice, and partly from necessity. There was no time 

to remodel the work, and the public voice seemed to be, that it was more 

I* 


VI 


ADVERTISEMENT BY THE REPORTER. 


attractive, and more useful, in its present condensed form. Mr. Finney 
lias therefore done little more than to amend where the Reporter misap¬ 
prehended the meaning, or did not express it with sufficient distinctness. 
He has enlarged in a few places where the illustrations, as given by the 
Reporter, seemed to be incomplete. 

My labour with these Sketches is now done; and its results are sent 
forth in this permanent form, with the prayer, that God would employ 
the book, as he has already done the newspaper edition, to rouse, and 
teach, and strengthen his people, and to guide, unite, and encourage 
zealous Christians of all classes, in the great duty of saving sinners. 

J. L, 


New-York, April, 1835. 







CONTENTS. 


LECTURE I. 

Pago. 

What a Revival of Religion is.9 

LECTURE II. 

When a Revival is to be expected...21 

LECTURE III. 

How to Promote a Revival.33 

LECTURE IV. 

Prevailing Prayer.45 

LECTURE V. 

The Prayer of Faith...64 

LECTURE VI. 

Spirit of Prayer...*.80 

LECTURE VII. 

Be Filled with the Spirit.97 

LECTURE VIII. 

Meetings for Prayer^.114 

LECTURE IX. 

Means to be Used with Sinners.129 

LECTURE X. 

To win Souls requires Wisdom.144 

LECTURE XI. 

A wise Minister will be Successful.1G1 

LECTURE XII. 

How to Preach the Gospel.....180 















VU1 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE XIII. Pa^t*. 

How Churches can Help Ministers.207 

LECTURE XIV. 

Measures to Promote Revivals.232 

LECTURE XV. 

Hinderances to Revivals.256 

LECTURE XVI. 

Necessity and Effect of Union. 285 

LECTURE XVII. 

False Comforts for Sinners.307 

LECTURE XVIII. 

Directions to Sinners.334 

LECTURE XIX. 

Instructions to Converts. 353 

LECTURE XX. 

Instruction of Young Converts.380 

LECTURE XXI. 

Backsliders. 400 

LECTURE XXII. 

Growth in Grace. 415 







f 

















LECTURES. 


LECTURE I. 

WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 

Text.— O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the nndst of 
the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.— Hab. lii. 2. 

It is supposed that the prophet Habakkuk was contemporary 
with Jeremiah, and that this prophecy was uttered in anticipa¬ 
tion of the Babylonish captivity. Looking at the judgments 
which were speedily to come upon his nation, the soul of the 
prophet was wrought up to an agony, and he cries out in his dis¬ 
tress, “ O Lord, revive thy work.” As if he had said, “ O Lord, 
grant that thy judgments may not make Israel desolate. In the 
midst of these awful years, let the judgments of God be made 
the means of reviving religion among us. In w T rath remember 
mercy.” 

Religion is the work of man. It is something for man to 
do. It consists in obeying God. It is man’s duty. It is true, 
God induces him to do it. He influences him by his Spirit, 
because of his great wickedness and reluctance to obey. If 
it were not necessary for God to influence men—if men were 
disposed to obey God, there would be no occasion to pray, “ O 
Lord, revive thy work.” The ground of necessity for such a 
prayer is, that men are wholly indisposed to obey 5 and unless 
God interpose the influence of his Spirit, not a man on earth 
will ever obey the commands of God. 

A “ Revival of Religion” presupposes a declension. Almost 
all the religion in the world has been produced by revivals. 
God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excita¬ 
bility there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements 
among them, before he can lead them to obey. Men are so 
sluggish, there are so many things to lead their minds off from 
religion, and to oppose the influence of the gospel, that it is 
necessary to raise an excitement among them, till the tide rises 
so high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles. They must 



10 WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 

be so excited that they will break over these counteracting j 
influences, before they will obey God. 

Look back at the history of the Jews, and you will see that > 
God used to maintain religion among them by special occasions, ; 
when there would be a great excitement, and people would 
turn to the Lord. And after they had been thus revived, it 
would he but a short time before there would be so many coun- jj 
teracting influences brought to bear upon them, that religion if 
would decline, and keep on declining, till God could have time— j 
so to speak—to shape the course of events so as to produce j 
another excitement, and then pour out his Spirit again to J 
convert sinners. Then the counteracting causes would again j 
operate, and religion would decline, and the nation would be j 
swept away in the vortex of luxury, idolatry, and pride. 

There is so little principle in the church, so little firmness I 
and stability of purpose, that unless they are greatly excited, I 
they will not obey God. They have so little knowledge, and | 
their principles are so weak, that unless they are excited, they f 
will go back from the path of duty, and do nothing to promote ft 
the glory of God. The state of the world is still such, and | 
probably will be till the millenium is fully come, that religion | 
must be mainly promoted by these excitements. How long and I 
how often has the experiment been tried, to bring the church to I 
act steadily for God, without these periodical excitements i 
Many good men have supposed, and still suppose, that the best | 
way to promote religion, is to go along uniformly , and gather 
in the ungodly gradually, and without excitement. But how¬ 
ever such reasoning may appear in the abstract, facts demon- | f 
strate its futility. If the church were far enough advanced in 
knowledge, and had stability of principle enough to keep awake , t 
such a course would do ; but the church is so little enlightened, 
and there are so many counteracting causes, that the church 
will not go steadily to work without a special excitement. As 
the millenium advances, it is probable that these periodical 
excitements will be unknown. Then the church will be 
enlightened, and the counteracting causes removed, and the 
entire church will be in a state of habitual and steady obedience 
to God. The entire church will stand and take the infant 
mind, and cultivate it for God. Children will be trained up 
in the way they should go, and there will be no such torrents of 
worldliness, and fashion, and covetousness, to bear away the 
piety of the church, as soon as the excitement of a revival is 
withdrawn. 

It is very desirable it should be so. It is very desirable that 




WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


11 


the church should go on steadily in a course of obedience 
without these excitements. Such excitements are liable to 
injure the health. Our nervous system is so strung that any 
powerful excitement, if long continued, injures our health and 
unfits us for duty. If religion is ever to have a pervading 
influence in the world, it can’t be so; this spasmodic religion 
must be done away. Then it will be uncalled for. Christians 
will not sleep the greater part of the time, and once in a while 
wake up, and rub their eyes, and bluster about, and vociferate, 
a little while, and then go to sleep again. Then there will be no 
need that ministers should wear themselves out, and kill them¬ 
selves, by their efforts to roll back the flood of worldly influence 
that sets in upon the church. But as yet the state of the 
Christian world is such, that to expect to promote religion with¬ 
out excitements is unphilosophical and absurd. The great 
political, and other worldly excitements that agitate Christen¬ 
dom, are all unfriendly to religion, and divert the mind from 
the interests of the soul. Now these excitements can only be 
counteracted by religious excitements. And until there is io 
ligious principle in the world to put down irreligious excite¬ 
ments, it is in vain to try to promote religion, except' by coun¬ 
teracting excitements. This is true in philosophy, and it is a 
historical fact. 

It is altogether improbable that religion will ever make 
progress among heathen nations except through the influence 
of revivals. The attempt is now making to do it by education, 
and other cautious and gradual improvements. But so long as 
the laws of mind remain what they are, it cannot be done in 
this way. There must be excitement sufficient to wake up the 
dormant moral powers, and roll'back the tide of degradation 
and sin. And precisely so far as our own land approximates 
to heathenism, it is impossible for God or man to promote reli¬ 
gion in such a state of things but by powerful excitements.— 
This is evident from the fact that this has always been the way 
in which God has done it. God does not create these excite¬ 
ments, and choose this method to promote religion for nothing 
or without reason. Where mankind are so reluctant to obey 
God, they will not act until they are excited. For instance, 
how many there are who know that they ought to be religious, 
but they are afraid if they become pious they shall be laughed 
at by their companions. Many are wedded to idols, others are 
procrastinating repentance, until they are settled in life, or until 
they have secured some favorite worldly interest. Such persons 
never will give up their false shame, or relinquish their ambi- 


12 WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 

tious schemes, till they are so excited that they cannot contain 
themselves any longer. 

These remarks are designed only as an introduction to the 
discourse. I shall now proceed with the main design, to show, 

I. What a revival of religion is not; 

II. What it is ; and, 

III. The agencies employed in promoting it. 

I. A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS NOT A MIRACLE. 

1. A miracle has been generally defined to he, a Divine in- 1 
‘erference, setting aside or suspending the laws of nature. It 
is not a miracle, in this sense. All the laws of matter and 
mind remain in force. They are neither suspended nor set 
aside in a revival. 

2. It is not a miracle according to another definition of the 
term miracle —something above, the powers of nature. There 
is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. 

It consists entirely in the right exercise of the powers of na¬ 
ture. It is just that, and nothing else. When mankind he- s 
come religious, they are not enabled to put forth exertions 
which they were unable before to put forth. They only exert 
the powers they had before in a different way, and use them 
for the glory of God. 

3. It is not a miracle, or dependent on a miracle, in any 
sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of 
the constituted means—as much so as any other effect produced 
Vy the application of means. There may be a miracle among 
it3 antecedent causes, or there may not. The apostles employ¬ 
ed miracles, simply as a means by which they arrested atten¬ 
tion to their message, and established its Divine authority. 
But the miracle was not the revival. The miracle was one 
thing; the revival that followed it was quite another thing. 
The revivals in the apostles’ days were connected with mira¬ 
cles, but they were not miracles. 

I said that a revival is the result of the right use of the ap¬ 
propriate means. The means which God has enjoined for the 
production of a revival, doubtless have a natural tendency to 
produce a revival. Otherwise God would not have enjoined 
them. But means will not produce a revival, we all know, 
without the blessing of God. No more will grain, when it is 
sowed, produce a crop without the blessing of God. It is im¬ 
possible for us to say that there is not as direct an influence or 
agency from God, to produce a crop of grain, as there is to pro¬ 
duce a revival. What are the laws of nature according to 



WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


13 


which, it is supposed, that grain yields a crop ? They are 
nothing but the constituted manner of the operations of God. 
In the Bible, the word of God is compared to grain, and 
preaching is compared to sowing seed, and the results to the 
springing up and growth of the crop. And the result is just 
as philosophical in the one case, as in the other, and is as 
naturally connected with the cause. 

I wish this idea to be impressed on all your minds, for there has 
long been an idea prevalent that promoting religion has some¬ 
thing very peculiar in it, not to be judged of by the ordinary rules 
of cause and effect; in short, that there is no connection of the 
means with the result, and no tendency in the means to produce 
the effect. No doctrine is more dangerous than this to the pros 
perity of the church, and nothing more absurd. 

Suppose a man were to go and preach this doctrine among 
farmers, about their sowing grain. Let him tell them that God 
is a sovereign, and will give them a crop only when it pleases 
him, and that for them to plow and plant and labor as if they 
expected to raise a crop is very wrong, and taking the work out 
of the hands of God, that it interferes with his sovereignty, and 
is going on in their own strength ; and that there is no connec¬ 
tion between the means and the result on which they can depend. 
And now, suppose the farmers should believe such doctrine 
Why, they would starve the world to death. 

Just such results will follow from the church’s being pursuaded 
that promoting religion is somehow so mysteriously a subject 
of Divine sovereignty, that there is no natural connection be¬ 
tween the means and the end. What art the results ? Why ' 
generation after generation have gone down to hell. No doubt A 
more than five thousand millions have gone down to hell, while 
the church has been dreaming, and waiting for God to save 
them without the use of means. It has been the devil’s most 
successful means of destroying souls. The connection is as 
clear in religion as it is when the farmer sows his grain. 

There is one fact under the government of God, worthy of 
universal notice, and of everlasting remembrance; which is, 
that the most useful and important things are most easily and 
certainly obtained by the use of the appropriate means. This is 
evidently a principle in the Divine administration. Hence, all 
the necessaries of life are obtained with great certainty by the 
use of the simplest means. The luxuries are more difficult to 
obtain; the means to procure them are more intricate and less 
certain in their results; while things absolutely hurtful and 
poisonous, such as alcohol and the like, are often obtained only 

2 


14 WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION 13. 

by torturing nature, and making use of a kind of infernal sor¬ 
cery to procure the death-dealing abomination. 1 his princi¬ 
ple holds true in moral government, and as spiritual blessings 
are of surpassing importance, we should expect their attainment 
to be connected with great certainty with the use of the appro¬ 
priate means; and such we find to be the fact; and I fully believe 
that could facts be known, it would be found that when the ap¬ 
pointed means have been rightly used, spiritual blessings have 
been obtained with greater uniformity than temporal ones, 

II. 1 AM TO SHOW WHAT A REVIVAL IS. 

It presupposes that the church is sunk down in a backslidden 
state, and a revival consists in the return of the church from her 
backslidings, and in the conversion of sinners. 

1. A revival always includes conviction of sin on the part of 
the church. Backslidden professors cannot wake up and begin 
right away in the service of God, without deep searchings of 
heart The fountains of sin need to be broken up. In a true 
revival, Christians are always brought under such convictions ; 
they see their sins in such a light, that often they find it impossi¬ 
ble to maintain a hope of their acceptance with God. It does not al¬ 
ways go to that extent; but there are always, in a genuine revival, 
deep convictions of sin, and often cases of abandoning all hope. 

2. Backslidden Christians will be brought to repentance. A 
revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to 
God. Just as in the case of a converted sinner, the first step is 
a deep repentance, a breaking down of heart, a getting down 
into the dust before God, with deep humility, and forsaking of sin. 

3. Christians will have their faith renewed. While they are 
in their backslidden state they are blind to the state of sinners. 
Their hearts are as hard as marble. The truths of the Bible 
only appear like a dream. They admit it to be all true ; their 
conscience and their judgment assent to it; but their faith does 
not see it standing out in bold relief, in all the burning realities 
of eternity. But when they enter into a revival, they no longer 
see men as trees walking, but they see things in that strong 
light which will renew the love of God in their hearts. This 
will lead them to labor zealously to bring others to him. They 
will feel grieved that others do not love God, when they love 
him so much. And they will set themselves feelingly to persuade 
their neighbors to give him their hearts. So their love to 
men will be renewed. They will be filled with a tender and 
burning love for souls. They will have a longing desire for 
the salvation of the whole world. They will be in an agony for 


WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


15 


individuals whom they want to have saved; their friends, re¬ 
lations, enemies. They will not only be urging them to give 
their hearts to God, but they will carry them to God in the 
arms of faith, and with strong crying and tears beseech God to 
have mercy on them, and save their souls from endless burnings. 

4. A revival breaks the power of the world and of sin over 
Christians. It brings them to such vantage ground that they 
get a fresh impulse towards heaven. They have a new fore¬ 
taste of heaven, and new desires after union to God; and the 
charm of the world is broken, and the power of sin overcome, 

5. When the churches are thus awakened and reformed, the 
reformation and salvation of sinners will follow, going through 
the same stages of conviction, repentance, and reformation. 
Their hearts will be broken down and changed. Very often 
the most abandoned profligates are among the subjects. Har¬ 
lots, and drunkards, and infidels, and all sorts of abandoned 
characters, are awakened and converted. The worst part of 
human society are softened, and reclaimed, and made to appear 
as lovely specimens of the beauty of holiness. 

Hi. I AM TO CONSIDER THE AGENCIES EMPLOYED IN CARRY¬ 
ING FORWARD A REVIVAL OF RELIGION. 

Ordinarily, there are three agents employed in the work of 
conversion, and one instrument. The agents are God,—some 
person who brings the truth to bear on the mind,—and the sin¬ 
ner himself. The instrument is the truth. There are always 
two agents, God and the sinner, employed and active in every 
case of genuine conversion. 

1 . The agency of God is two-fold; by his Providence and 
by his Spirit. 

(1.) By his providential government, he so arranges events 
as to bring the sinner’s mind and the truth in contact. He 
brings the sinner where the truth reaches his ears or his eyes. 
It is often interesting to trace the manner in which God ar¬ 
ranges events so as to bring this about, and how he sometimes 
makes every thing seem to favor a revival. The state of the 
weather, and of the public health, and other circumstances con¬ 
cur to make every thing just right to favor the application of 
truth with the greatest possible efficacy. How he sometimes 
sends a minister along, just at the time he is wanted ! How 
he brings out a particular truth, just at the particular time when 
the individual it is fitted to reach is in the way to hear! 

(2.) God’s special agency by his Holy Spirit. Having di¬ 
rect access to the mind, and knowing infinitely well the whole 


16 


WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


history and state of each individual sinner, he employs that 
truth which is best adapted to his particular case, and then sets 
it home with Divine power. He gives it such vividness, strength, 
and power, that the sinner quails, and throws down his wea¬ 
pons of rebellion, and turns to the Lord. Under his influence, 
the truth burns and cuts its way like fire. He makes the truth 
stand out in such aspects, that it crushes the proudest man down 
with the weight of a mountain. If men were disposed to obey 
God, the truth is given with sufficient clearness in the Bible ; 
and from preaching they could learn ail that is necessary for 
them to know. But because they are wholly disinclined to 
obey it, God clears it up before their minds, and pours in a 
blaze of convincing light upon their souls, which they cannot 
withstand, and they yield to it, and obey God, and are saved. 

2. The agency of men is commonly employed. Men are 
not mere instruments in the hands of God. Truth is the in¬ 
strument. The preacher is a moral agent in the work; he 
acts; he is not a mere passive instrument; he is voluntary in 
promoting the conversion of sinners. 

3. The agency of the sinner himself. The conversion of a 
sinner consists in his obeying the truth. It is therefore impos¬ 
sible it should take place without his agency, for it consists in 
his acting right. He is influenced to this by the agency of 
God, and by the agency of men. Men act on their fellow-men, 
not only by language, but by their looks, their tears, their daily 
deportment, See that impenitent man there, who has a pious 
wife. Her very looks, her tenderness, her solemn, compassion¬ 
ate dignity, softened and moulded into the image of Christ, area 
sermon to him all the time. He has to turn his mind away, 
because it is such a reproach to him. He feels a sermon ring¬ 
ing in his ears all day long. 

Mankind are accustomed to read the countenances of their 
neighbors. Sinners often read the state of a Christian’s mind 
in his eyes. If his eyes are full of levity, or worldly anxiety 
and contrivance, sinners read it. If they are full of the Spirit 
of God, sinners read it; and they are often led to conviction by 
barely seeing the countenance of Christians. 

An individual once went into a manufactory to see the ma¬ 
chinery. His mind was solemn, as he had been where there 
was a revival. The people who labored there all knew him 
by sight, and knew who he was. A young lady who was at 
work saw him, and whispered some foolish remark to her com¬ 
panion, and laughed. The person stopped and looked at her 
with a feeling of grief. She stopped, her thread broke, and she 


WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


1? 


was so much agitated she could not join it. She looked out at 
the window to compose herself, and then tried again; again 
and again she strove to recover her self-command. At length 
she sqt down, overcome with her feelings. The person then 
approached and spoke with her; she soon manifested a deep 
sense of sin. The feeling spread through the establishment 
like fire, and in a few hours almost every person employed 
there was under conviction, so much so, that the owners, though 
worldly men, were astounded, and requested to have the works 
stop and have a prayer meeting; for they said it was a great deal 
more important to have these people converted than to have the 
works go on. And in a few days, the owners and nearly every 
person employed in the establishment were hopefully converted. 
The eye of this individual, his solemn countenance, his compas¬ 
sionate feeling, rebuked the levity of the young woman, and 
brought her under conviction of sin : and this whole revival fol¬ 
lowed, probably in a great measure, from so small an incident. 

If Christians have deep feeling on the subject of religion 
themselves, they will produce deep feeling wherever they go. 
And if they are cold, or light and trifling, they inevitably de¬ 
stroy all deep feeling, even in awakened sinners. 

I knew a case, once, of an individual who was very anxious, 
but one day I was grieved to find that her convictions seemed 
to be all gone. I asked her what she had been doing. She 
told me she had been spending the afternoon at such a place, 
among some professors of religion, not thinking that it would 
dissipate her convictions to spend an afternoon with professors 
of religion. But they were trifling and vain, and thus her con¬ 
victions were lost. And no doubt those professors of religion, 
by their folly, destroyed a soul, for her convictions did not 
return. 

The church is required to use the means for the conversion 
of sinners. Sinners cannot properly be said to use the means 
for their own conversion. The church uses the means. What 
sinners do is to submit to the truth, or to resist it. It is a mis¬ 
take of sinners, to think they are using means for their own 
conversion. The whole drift of a revival, and every thing 
about it, is designed to present the truth to your mind, for your 
obedience or resistance. 

REMARKS. 

1 . Revivals were formerly regarded as miracles. And it 
has been so by some even in our day. And others have ideas 
on the subject so loose and unsatisfactory, that if they would 

2 * 


18 


WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


only think, they would see their absurdity. For a long time, 
it was supposed by the church, that a revival was a miracle, an 
interposition of Divine power which they had nothing to do 
with, and which they had no more agency in producing, than 
they had in producing thunder, or a storm of hail, or an earth¬ 
quake. It is only within a few years that ministers generally 
have supposed revivals were to he promoted, by the use of 
means designed and adapted specially to that object. Even in 
New England, it has been supposed that revivals came just as 
showers do, sometimes in one town, and sometimes in another, 
and that ministers and churches could do nothing more to pro¬ 
duce them, than they could to make showers of rain come on 
their own town, when they are falling on a neighboring town. 

It used to be supposed that a revival would come about 
once in fifteen years, and all would be converted that God in¬ 
tended to save, and then they must wait until another crop came 
forward on the stage of life. Finally, the time got shortened 
down to five years, and they supposed there might be a revival 
about as often as that. 

I have heard a fact in relation to one of these pastors, who 
supposed revivals might come about once in five years. There 
had been a revival in his congregation. The next year, there 
was a revival in a neighboring town, and he went there to 
preach, and staid several days, till he got his soul all engaged 
in the work. He returned home on Saturday, and went into 
his study to prepare for the Sabbath. And his soul was in 
an agony. He thought how many adult persons there were 
in his congregation at enmity with God—so many still uncon¬ 
verted—so many persons die yearly—such a portion of them 
unconverted—if a revival does not come under five years, so 
many adult heads of families will be in hell. He put down his 
calculations on paper, and embodied them in his sermon for 
the next day, with his heart bleeding at the dreadful picture. 
As I understood it, he did not do this with any expectation of a 
revival, but he felt deeply, and poured out his heart to his peo¬ 
ple. And that sermon awakened forty heads of families , and 
a powerful revival followed ; and so his theory about a revival 
once in five years was all exploded. 

Thus God has overthrown, generally, the theory that revi¬ 
vals are miracles. 

2. Mistaken notions concerning the sovereignty of God, 
have greatly hindered revivals. 

Many people have supposed God’s sovereignty to be some¬ 
thing very different from what it is. They have supposed it to 


WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS. 


19 


be sueh an arbitrary disposal of events, and particularly of the 
gift of his Spirit, as precluded a rational employment of means 
for promoting a revival of religion. But there is no evidence 
from the Bible, that God exercises any such sovereignty as 
that. There are no facts to prove it. B.ut every thing goes to 
show, that God has connected means with the end through all 
the departments of his government—in nature and in grace. 
There is no natural event in which his own agency is not con¬ 
cerned. He has not built the creation like a vast machine, 
that will go on alone without* his further care. He has not re¬ 
tired from the universe, to let it work for itself. This is mere 
atheism. He exercises a universal superintendence and con¬ 
trol. And yet every event in nature has been brought about 
by means. He neither administers providence nor grace with 
that sort of sovereignty, that dispenses with the use of means. 
There is no more sovereignty in one than in the other. 

And yet some people are terribly alarmed at all direct ef¬ 
forts to promote a revival, and they cjy out, “ You are trying 
to get up a revival in your own strength. Take care, you are 
interfering with the sovereignty of God. Better keep along in 
the usual course, and let God give a revival when he thinks 
it is best. God is a sovereign, and it is very wrong for you to 
attempt to get up a revival, just because you think a revival is 
needed.” This is just such preaching as the devil wants. 
And men cannot do the devil’s work more effectually, than by 
preaching up the sovereignty of God, as a reason why we 
should not put forth efforts to produce a revival. 

3. You see the error of thoSe who are beginning to think 
that religion can be better promoted in the world without revi¬ 
vals, and who are disposed to give up all efforts to produce re¬ 
ligious excitements. Because there are evils arising in some 
instances out of great excitements on the subject of religion, 
they are of opinion that it is best to dispense with them alto¬ 
gether. This cannot, and must not be. True, there is danger 
of abuses. In cases of great religious as well as all other ex¬ 
citements, more or less incidental evils may be expected of 
course. But this is no reason why they should be given up. 
The best things are always liable to abuses. Great and mani¬ 
fold evils have originated in the providential and moral govern¬ 
ments of God. But these foreseen perversions and evils were 
not considered a sufficient reason for giving them up. For the 
establishment of these governments was on the whole the best 
that could be done for the production of the greatest amount of 
happiness. So in revivals of religion, it is found by experience, 


20 


WHAT A REVIVAL OF Ei^lGION IS. 


that in the present state of the world, religion cannot he promo¬ 
ted to any considerable extent without them. The evils which 
are sometimes complained of, when they are real, are incidental, 
and of small importance when compared with the amount of 
good produced by revivals. The sentiment should not be ad¬ 
mitted by the church for a moment, that revivals may be given 
up. It is fraught with all that is dangerous to the interests of 
Zion, is death to the cause of missions, and brings in its train 
the damnation of the world. 

Finally —I have a proposal to make to you who are here 
present. I have not commenced this course of Lectures on Re¬ 
vivals to get up a curious theory of my own on the subject. I 
would not spend my time and strength merely to give you in¬ 
structions, to gratify your curiosity, and furnish you something 
to talk about. I have no idea of preaching about revivals. It 
is not my design to preach so as to have you able to say at the 
close, “ We understand all about revivals now,” while you do 
nothing . But I wish to ask you a question. What do you 
hear lectures on revivals for? Do you mean that whenever 
you are convinced what your duty is in promoting a revival, 
you will go to work and practise it ? 

Will you follow the instructions I shall give you from the 
word of God, and put them in practice in your own hearts ? Will 
you bring them to bear upon your families, your acquaintance, 
neighbors, and through the city? Or will you spend the win¬ 
ter in learning about revivals, and do nothing for them? I 
want you, as fast as you learn any thing on the subject of revi¬ 
vals, to put it in practice, and go to work and see if you cannot 
promote a revival among sinners here. If you will not do this, 

I wish you to let me know at the beginning, so that I need not 
waste my strength. You ought to decide noio whether you will 
do this or not. You know that we call sinners to decide on the 
spot whether they will obey the gospel. And we have no more 
authority to let you take time to deliberate whether you will 
obey God, than we have to let sinners do so. We call on you 
to unite now in a solemn pledge to God, that you will do your 
duty as fast as you learn what it is, and to pray that He will 
pour out his Spirit upon this church and upon all the city this 
winter. J 




LECTURE II. 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


Text. —Wilt thou not revive us again; that thy people may rejoice in thee? 
—Psalm lxxxv. 6. 

This Psalm seems to have been written soon after the re¬ 
turn of the people of Israel from the Babylonish captivity; as 
you will easily see from the language at the commencement 
of it. The Psalmist felt that God had been very favorable to 
the people, and while contemplating the goodness of the Lord 
in bringing them back from the land where they had been car¬ 
ried away captive, and while looking at the prospects before 
them, he breaks out into a prayer for a Revival of Religion. 
“ Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in 
thee?” Since God in his providence had re-established the 
ordinances of his house among them, he prays that there may 
be also a revival of religion, to crown the work. 

Last Friday evening I attempted to show what a Revival of 
Religion is not; what a Revival is; and the agencies to be 
employed in promoting it. The topics to which I wish to call 
your attention to-night, are, 

I. When a Revival of Religion is needed. 

II. The importance of a Revival when it is needed. 

III. When a Revival of Religion may be expected. 

I. WHEN IS A REVIVAL OF RELIGION NEEDED? 

1. When there is a want of brotherly love and Christian 
confidence among professors of religion, then a revival is 
needed. Then there is a loud call for God to revive his work. 
When Christians have sunk down into a low and backslidden 
state, they neither have, nor ought to have, nor is there reason 
to have, the same love and confidence toward each other, as 
when they are all alive, and active, and living holy lives. The 
love of benevolence may be the same, but not the love of com¬ 
placency. God loves all men with the love of benevolence, but 
he does not feel the love of complacency toward any but those 
who live holy. Christians do not and cannot love each other 
with the love of complacency, only in proportion to their holi¬ 
ness. If Christian love is the love of the image of Christ in 
his people, then it never can be exercised only where that 


22 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


image really or apparently exists. A person must reflect the 
image of Christ, and show the spirit of Christ, before other 
Christians can love him with the love of complacency. It is 
in vain to call on Christians to love one another with the love 
of complacency, as Christians, when they are sunk down in 
stupidity. They see nothing in each other to produce this 
love. It is next to impossible that they should feel otherwise 
toward each other, than they do toward sinners. Merely know¬ 
ing that they belong to the church, or seeing them occasionally 
at the communiontable, will not produce Christian love, unless 
they see the image of Christ. .; 

2. When there are dissensions, and jealousies, and evil 
speakings among professors of religion, then there js great 
need of a revival. These things show that Christians have got 
far from God, and it is time to think earnestly of a revival.— 
Religion cannot prosper with such things in the church, and 
nothing can put an end to them like a revival. 

3. When there is a worldly spirit in the church. It is ma¬ 
nifest that the church is sunk down into a low and backslidden 
state, when you see Christians conform to the world in dress, 
equipage, parties, seeking worldly amusements, reading novels, 
and other books such as the world read. It show's that they 
are far from God, and that there is a great need of a Revival 
of Religion. 

4. When the church finds its members falling into gross and 
scandalous sins, then it is time for the church to awake and cry 
to God for a Revival of Religion. When such things are 
taking place, as give the enemies of religion an occasion for 
reproach, it is time for the church to ask of God, “ What will 
become of thy great name?” 

5. When there is a spirit of controversy in the church or in 
the land, a revival is needful. The spirit of religion is not the 
spirit of controversy. There can be no prosperity in religion, 
where the spirit of controversy prevails. 

6. When the wicked triumph over the church, and revile 
them, it is time to seek for a Revival of Religion. 

7. When sinners are careless and stupid, and sinking into 
hell unconcerned, it is time the church should bestir themselves. 

It is as much the duty of the church to awake, as it is for the 
firemen to awake when a fire breaks out in the night in a great 
city. The church ought to put out the fires of hell which are 
laying hold of the w'icked. Sleep! Should the firemen sleep, 
and let the whole city burn down, what would be thought of 
such firemen ? And yet their guilt would not compare with the 



WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


23 


guilt of Christians who sleep while sinners around them are 
sinking stupid into the fires of hell. 

II. I AM TO SHOW THE IMPORTANCE OP A REVIVAL OF RE¬ 
LIGION IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES. 

1. A Revival of Religion is the only possible thing that can 
wipe away the reproach which covers the church, and restore 
religion to the place it ought to have in the estimation of the 
public. Without a revival, this reproach will cover the church 
more and more, until it is over whelmed with universal con¬ 
tempt. You may do any thing else you please, and you can 
change the aspects of society in some respects, but you will do 
no real good ; you only make it worse without a Revival of Re¬ 
ligion. You may go and build a splendid new house of wor¬ 
ship, and line your seats with damask, put up a costly pulpit, 
and get a magnificent organ, and every thing of that kind, to 
make a show and dash, and in that way you may procure a 
sort of respect for religion among the wicked, but it does no 
good in reality. It rather does hurt. It misleads them as to 
the real nature of religion ; and so far from converting them, it 
Carries them farther away from salvation. Look wherever 
ftey have surrounded the altar of Christianity with splendor, 
and you will find that the impression produced is contrary to 
the true nature of religion. There must be a waking up of 
energy on the part of Christians, and an outpouring of God’s 
Spirit, or the world will laugh at the church. 

2. Nothing else will restore Christian love and confidence 
among church members. Nothing but a Revival of Religion 
can restore it, and nothing else ought to restore it. There is 
no other way to wake up that love of Christians for one an¬ 
other, which is sometimes felt, when they have such love as 
they cannot express. You cannot have such love without con¬ 
fidence ; and you cannot restore confidence without such evi¬ 
dence of piety as is seen in a revival. If a minister finds he 
has lost in any degree the confidence of his people, he ought to 
labor for a revival as the only means of regaining their confi¬ 
dence. I do not mean that this should be his motive in laboring 
for a revival, to regain the confidence of his people, but that a 
revival through his instrumentality, and ordinarily nothing else, 
will restore to him the confidence of the praying part of his 
people. So if an elder or private member of the church finds 
his brethren cold towards him, there is but one way to restore 
it. It is by being revived himself, and pouring out from his 
eyes and from his life the splendor of the image of Christ. This 


24 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


spirit will catch and spread in the church, and confidence will 
he renewed, and brotherly love prevail again. 

3. At such a time a Revival of Religion is indispensable to 
avert the judgments of God from the church. This would be 
strange preaching, if revivals are only miracles, and if the 
church has no more agency in producing them, than it has in 
making a thunder storm. To say to the church, that unless 
there is a revival you may expect judgments, would then be as 
ridiculous as to say, If you don’t have a thunder storm, you 
may expect judgments The fact is, that Christians are more 
to'blame for nut being revived, than sinners are for not being 
converted. And if they are not awakened, they may know as¬ 
suredly that God will visit them with his judgments. How 
often God visited the Jewish church with judgments, because 
they would not repent and be revived at the call of his prophets ! 
How often have we seen churches, and even whole denomina-' 
tions, cursed with a curse, because they would not wake up and 
seek the Lord, and pray, “ Wilt thou not revive us again, that 
thy people may rejoice in thee?” 

4. Nothing but a Revival of Religion can preserve such a 
church from annihilation. A church declining in this way 
cannot continue to exist without a revival. If it receives new 
members, they will, for the most part, be made up of ungodly 
persons. Without revivals there will not ordinarily be as many 
persons converted as will die off in a year. There have been 
churches in this country where the members have died off and 
there were no revivals to convert others in their place, till the 
church has run out, and the organization has been dissolved. 

A minister told me that he once labored as a missionary in 
Virginia, on the ground where such a man as Samuel Davies 
once flashed and shone like a flaming torch; and that Davies’s 
church was so reduced as to have but one male member, and 
he, if I remember right, was a colored man. The church 
had got proud, and was all run out. I have heard of a church 
in Pennsylvania, that was formerly flourishing, but neglected 
revivals, and it became so reduced that the pastor had to send to 
a neighboring church for a ruling elder when he administered 
the communion.* 

5. Nothing but a Revival of Religion can prevent the means 
of grace from doing a great injury to the ungodly. Without a 
revival, they will grow harder and harder under preaching, and 
will experience a more horrible damnation than they would if 

* Why not, in such a case, let any member of the church, male or female 

distribute the elements ? Is it indispensable to have an elder. 



WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


25 


they had never heard the gospel. Your children and your 
friends will go down to a much more horrible fate in hell, in 
consequence of the means of grace, if there are no revivals to 
convert them to God. Better were it for them if there were no 
means ot grace, no sactuary, no Bible, no preaching, and if they 
had never heard the gospel, than to live and die where there is 
no revival. The gospel is the savor of death unto death, if it is 
not made a savor of life unto life. 

6. There is no other way in which a church can be sanc¬ 
tified, grow in grace, and be fitted for heaven. What is grow¬ 
ing in grace? Is it hearing sermons and getting some new no¬ 
tions about religion? No—no such thing. The Christian who 
does this, and nothing more, is getting worse and worse, more 
and more hardened, and every week it is more difficult to rouse 
him up to duty. 

III. I AM TO SHOW WHEN A REVIVAL OF RELIGION MAY BF 
EXPECTED. 

1. When the providence of God indicates that a revival is at 
hand. The indications of God’s providence are sometimes so 
plain as to amount to a revelation of his will. There is a con¬ 
spiring of events to open the way, a preparation of circumstan¬ 
ces to favor a revival, so that those who are looking out can 
see that a revival is at hand, just as plainly as if it had been 
revealed from Heaven. Cases have occurred in this country, 
where the providential manifestations were so plain, that those 
who are careful observers, felt no hesitation in saying, that God 
was coming to pour out his Spirit, and grant a revival of reli¬ 
gion. There are various ways for God to indicate his will to 
a people—sometimes by giving them peculiar means, sometimes 
by peculiar and alarming events, sometimes by remarkably fa¬ 
voring the employment of means, by the weather, health, &c. 

2. When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and humbles 
and distresses Christians. Sometimes Christians do not seem 
to mind any thing about the wickedness around them. Or if 
they talk about it, it is in a cold, and callous, and unfeeling way, 
as if they despaired of a reformation: they are disposed to scold, 
at sinners—not to feel the compassion of the Son of God for 
them. But sometimes the conduct of the wicked drives Chris¬ 
tians to prayer, and breaks them down, and makes them sorrow¬ 
ful and tender-hearted, so that they can weep day and night, and 
instead of scolding and reproaching them, they pray earnestly 
for them. Then you may expect a revival. Sometimes the 
wicked will get up an opposition to religion. And when this 


26 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


drives Christians to their knees in prayer to God, with strong 
crying and tears, you may be certain there is going to be a revi¬ 
val The prevalence of wickedness is no evidence at all that 
there is not going to be a revival. That is often God’s time to 
work. When the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the 
Lord lifts up a standard against him. Often the first indication 
of a revival, is the devil’s getting up something new in opposition. 
It will invariably have one of two effects. It will either drive 
Christians to God, or it will drive them farther away from God, 
to some carnal policy or other that will only make things 
worse. Frequently the most outrageous wickedness of the un¬ 
godly is followed by a revival. If Christians are made to feel 
.hat they have no hope but in God, and if they have sufficient 
feeling left to care for the honor of God and the salvation of the 
souls of the impenitent, there will certainly be a revival. Let hell 
boil over if it will, and spew out as many devils as there are stones 
in the pavements, if it only drives Christians to God in prayer 
—they can’t hinder a revival. Let Satan get up a row, and 
sound his horn as loud as he pleases; if Christians will only be 
humbled and pray, they shall soon see God’s naked arm in a 
revival of religion. I have known instances where a revival 
has broken in upon the ranks of the enemy, almost as sudden as 
a clap of thunder, and scattered them—taken the very ringlead¬ 
ers as trophies, and broken up their party in an instant. 

3. A revival may be expected when Christians have a' spirit 
of prayer for a revival. That is, when they pray as if their 
hearts were set upon a revival. Sometimes Christians are not 
engaged in prayer for a revival , not even when they are warm 
in prayeV. Their minds are upon something else; they are 
praying for something else—the salvation of the heathen and 
the like—and not for a revival among themselves. But when 
they feel the want of a revival, they pray for it; they feel for 
their own families and neighborhoods, and pray for them as if 
they could not be denied. What constitutes a spirit of prayer ? 
Is it many prayers and warm words? No. Prayer is the state 
of the heart. The spirit of prayer is a state of continual desire 
and anxiety of mind for the salvation of sinners. It is some- 
thing that weighs them down. It is the same, so far as the 
philosophy of the mind is concerned, as when a man is anxious 
for some worldly interest. A Christian who has this spirit of 
prayer feels anxious for souls. It is the subject of his thoughts 
all the time, and makes him look and act as if he had a load on 
his mind. He thinks of it by day, and dreams of it by night 
1 his is properly praying without ceasing. The man's prayers 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


27 


seem to flow from his heart liquid as water—“ O Lord, revive 
thy work.” Sometimes this feeling is very deep; persons 
have been bowed down, so that they could neither stand nor 
sit. I can name men in this state, of firm nerves, who stand 
high in character, who have been absolutely crushed with grief 
for the state of sinners. They have had an actual travail of 
soul for sinners, till they were as helpless as children. The 
feeling is not always so great as this, but such things are much 
more common than is supposed. In the great revivals in 1826, 
they were common. This is by no means enthusiasm. It is 
just what Paul felt, when he says, “ My little children, of whom 
I travail in birth.” I heard of a person in this state, who pray¬ 
ed for sinners, and finally got into such a state of mind, that 
she could not live without prayer. She could not rest day nor 
night, unless there was somebody praying. Then she would 
be at ease; but if they ceased, she would shriek in agony till 
there was prayer again. And this continued for two days, 
until she prevailed in prayer, and her soul was relieved. This 
travail of soul, is that deep agony, which persons feel when 
they lay hold on God for such a blessing, and will not let him 
go till they receive it. I do not mean to be understood that it 
is essential to a spirit of prayer, that the distress should be so 
great as this. But this deep, continual, earnest desire for the 
salvation of sinners, is what constitutes the spirit of prayer for 
a revival. • 

When this feeling exists in a church, unless the Spirit is 
grieved away by sin, there will infallibly be a revival. This 
anxiety and distress increases till the revival commences. A 

clergyman in W-n told me of a revival among his people, 

which commenced with a zealous and devoted woman in the 
church. She became anxious about sinners, and went to pray-* 
ing for them, and she prayed and her distress increased ; and 
she finally came to her minister, and talked with him, and asked 
him to appoint an anxious meeting, for she felt that one was 
needed. The minister put her off, for he felt nothing of it 
The next week she came again, and besought him to appoint 
an anxious meeting; she knew there would be somebody to 
come, for she felt as if God was going to pour out his Spirit. 
He put her off again. And finally she said to him, “ If you 
don’t appoint an anxious meeting I shall die, for there is cer¬ 
tainly going to be a revival.” The next Sabbath he appointed a 
meeting, and said that if there were any who wished to converse 
with him about the salvation of their souls, he would meet them 
on such an evening. He did not know of one, but when he 



28 


WHEN A REVIVAL JO BE EXPECTED. 


went to the place, to his astonishment he found a large number 
of anxious inquirers. Now don’t you think that woman knew 
there was going to be a revival ? Call it what you please, a 
new revelation or an old revelation, or any thing else. I say 
it was the Spirit of God that taught that praying woman there 
was going to be a revival. “ The secret of the Lord” was with 
her, and she knew it. She knew God had been in her heart, 
and filled it so full that she could contain no longer. 

Sometimes ministers have had this distress about their con¬ 
gregations, so that they felt as if they could not live unless 
they could see a revival. Sometimes elders and deacons, or 
private members of the church, men or women, have the spirit 
of prayer for a revival of religion, so that they will hold on and 
prevail with God, till he pours out his Spirit. The first ray 
of light that broke in upon the midnight which rested on the 
churches in Oneida county, in the fall of 1825, was from a wo¬ 
man in feeble health, who, I believe, had never been in a pow¬ 
erful revival. Her soul was exercised about sinners. She was 
in an agony for the land. She did not know what ailed her, 
but she kept praying more and more; till it seemed as if her 
agony would destroy her body. At length she became full of 
joy, and exclaimed, “ God has come ! God has come ! There 
is no mistake about it, the work is begun, and is going over all 
the region.” And sure enough, the work began, and her family 
were almost all converted, and the work spread all over that 
part of the country. Now, do you think that woman was de¬ 
ceived? I tell you, no. She knew she had prevailed with 
God in prayer. She had travailed in birth for souls, and she 
knew it. This was not the only instance, by many, that I 
knew in that region. 

Generally, there are but few professors of religion that know 
any thing about this spirit of prayer which prevails with God. 
I have been amazed to see such accounts as are often published 
about revivals, as if the revival had come without any cause- 
nobody knew why or wherefore. I have sometimes inquired 
into such cases; when it had been given out that nobody knew 
any thing about it until one Sabbath they saw in the face of the 
congregation that God was there; or they saw it in their confer¬ 
ence room, or prayer meeting, and were astonished at the 
mysterious sovereignty of God, in bringing in a revival without 
any apparent connection with means. Now mark me. Go and 
inquire among the obscure members of the church, and you will 
always find that somebody had been praying for a revival, and 
was expecting it—some man or woman had been agonizing in 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


29 


prayer, for the salvation of sinners, until they gained the bless¬ 
ing. It may have found the minister and the body of the church 
fast asleep, and they would wake up all of a sudden, like a man 
just rubbing his eyes open, and running round the room push¬ 
ing things over, and wondering where all this excitement came 
from. But though few knew it, you may be sure there has 
been somebody on the watch-tower, constant in prayer till the 
blessing came. Generally, a revival is more or less extensive, 
as there are more or less persons who have the spirit of prayer. 
But I will not dwell on this subject any further at present, as the 
subject of prayer will come up again in this course of lectures. 

4. Another sign that a revival may be expected, is when the 
attention of ministers is especially directed to this particular 
object , and when their preaching and other efforts are aimed 
particularly for the conversion of sinners. Most of the time 
the labors of ministers are, it would seem, directed to other ob¬ 
jects. They seem to preach and labor with no particular de¬ 
sign to effect the immediate conversion of sinners. And then 
it need not be expected that there will be a revival under their 
preaching. There never will be a revival till somebody makes 
particular efforts for this end. But when the attention of a 
minister is directed to the state of the families in his congrega¬ 
tion, and his heart is full of feeling of the necessity of a revival, 
and when he puts forth the proper efforts for this end, then you 
maybe prepared to expect a revival. As I explained last week, 
the connection between the right use of means for a revival, 
and a revival, is as philosophically sure as between the right 
use of means to raise grain, and a crop of wheat. I believe, in 
fact, it is more certain, and that there are fewer instances of 
failure. The effect is more certain to follow. Probably the 
law connecting cause and effect is more undeviating in spirit¬ 
ual than in natural things, and so there are fewer exceptions, 
as I have before said. The paramount importance of spiritual 
things makes it reasonable that it should be so. Take the Bible, 
the nature of the case, and the history of the church, all to¬ 
gether, and you will find fewer failures in the use of means for 
a revival, than in farming, or any other worldly business. In 
worldly business there are sometimes cases where counteract¬ 
ing causes annihilate all a man can do. In raising grain, for 
instance, there are cases which are beyond the control of man, 
such as drought, hard winter, worms, and so on. So in la¬ 
boring to promote a revival, there may things occur to counter¬ 
act it, something or other turning up to divert the public atten¬ 
tion from religion, which may baffle every effort. But I believe 

3* 



30 WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 

there are fewer such cases in the moral than in the natural 
world. I have Seldom seen an individual fail, when he used 
the means for promoting a revival in earnest, in the manner 
pointed out in the word of God. I believe a man may enter on 
the work of promoting a revival, with as reasonable an expecta¬ 
tion of success, as he can enter on any other work with an ex¬ 
pectation of success; with the same expectation as the farmer 
has of a crop when he sows his grain. I have sometimes seen 
this tried and succeed under circumstances the most forbidding 
that can be conceived. 

The great revival in Rochester begun under the most disad¬ 
vantageous circumstances that could well be imagined. It 
seemed as though Satan had interposed every possible obstacle 
to a revival. The three churches were at variance; one had 
no minister, one was divided about their minister, and they 
were just going to have a trial before the presbytery between 
an elder and the other minister. After the work begun, one of 
the first things was, the great stone church gave way, and cre¬ 
ated a panic. Then one of the churches went on and dismissed 
their minister right in the midst of it. Another church nearly 
broke down. Many other things occurred, so that it seemed 
as if the devil was determined to divert the public attention from 
the subject of religion. But there were a few remarkable cases 
of the spirit of prayer, which assured us that God was there, 
and we went on ; and the more Satan opposed, the Spirit of the 
. Lord lifted up the standard higher and higher, till finally a 
wave of salvation rolled over the place. 

5. A revival of religion may be expected when Christians 
begin to confess their sins to one another. At other times, they 
confess in a general manner, as if they were only half in earn¬ 
est. They may do it in eloquent language, but it does not mean 
any thing. But when there is an ingenuous breaking down, 
and a pouring out of the heart in making confession of their 
sins, the flood-gates will soon burst open, and salvation will 
flow over the place. 

6. A revival may be expected whenever Christians are found 
willing to make the sacrifice necessary to carry it on. They 
must be willing to sacrifice their feelings, their business, their 
time, to help forward the work. Ministers must be willing to 
lay out their strength, and to jeopard their health and life. 
They must be willing to offend the impenitent by plain and 
faithful dealing, and perhaps offend many members of the 
church who will not come up to the work. They must take 
a decided stand with the revival, be the consequences what they 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 31 

may. They must be prepared to go on with the work, even 
though they should lose the affections of all the impenitent, and 
of all the cold part of the church. The minister must be prepared, 
if it is the will of God, to be driven away from his place. He 
must be determined to go straight forward, and leave the entire 
event with God. 

I knew a minister who had a young man laboring with him 
in a revival. The young man preached pretty plain, and the 
wicked did not like him. They said, We like our minister, and 
we wish to have him preach. They finally said so much that 
the minister told the young man, “ Mr. Such-a-one, that gives so 
much towards my support, says so and so. Mr. A. says so, 
and Mr. B. says so. They think it will break up the society 
if you continue to preach, and I think you had better not preach 
any more.” The young man went away, but the Spirit of God 
immediately withdrew from the place, and the revival stopped 
short. The minister, by yielding to the wicked desires of the 
wicked, drove him away. He was afraid the devil ’would drive 
him away from his people, and by undertaking to satisfy the 
devil, he offended God. And God so ordered events, that in a 
short time he had to leave his people after all. He undertook 
to go between the devil and God, and God spewed him out. 

So the people, also, must be willing to have a revival, let the 
sacrifice be what it may. It won’t do for them to say, “We are 
willing to attend so many meetings, but we can’t attend any 
more.” Or, “ We are willing to have a revival if it will not 
disturb our arrangements about our business, or prevent our 
making money.” I tell jmu, such people will never have a re¬ 
vival, till they are willing to do any thing, and sacrifice afiy 
thing, that God indicates to be their duty. Christian merchants 
must feel willing to lock up their stores for six months, if it is 
necessary to carry on a revival. I do not mean to say any such 
thing is called for, or that it is their duty to do so. But if there 
should be such a state of feeling as to call for it, then it would be 
their duty, and they ought to be willing to do it. They ought 
to be willing to do it if God calls, for he can easily burn down 
their stores if they don’t. In fact, I should not be sorry to see 
such a revival in New York, as would make every merchant 
in the city lock up his store till spring, and say he had sold 
goods enough, and now he would serve God all this winter. 

7. A revival may be expected when ministers and professors 
are willing to have God promote it by what instruments he 
pleases. Sometimes ministers are not willing to have a revival 
unless they can have the management of it, or unless theii 



32 


WHEN A REVIVAL TO BE EXPECTED. 


agency can be conspicuous in promoting it. They wish to 
prescribe to God what he shall direct and bless, and what men 
he shall put forward. They will have no new measures. 
They can’t have any of this new-light preaching, or of these 
evangelists that go .about the country preaching. They have 
a great deal to say about God’s being a sovereign, and that he 
will have revivals come in his own way and time. But then 
he must choose to have it just in their wav, or they will have 
nothing to do with it. Such men will sleep on till they are 
awakened by the judgment trumpet, without a revival, unless 
they are willing that God should come in his own way—unless 
'"ing to have any thing or any body employed, that 



REMARKS. 


1. Brethren, you can tell from our subject, whether you need 
a revival here or not, in this church, and in this city; and 
whether you are going to have one or not. Elders of the 
church, men, women, any of you, and all of you—what do you 
say? 

Do you need a revival here ? 

Do you expect to have one ? 

Have you any reason to expect one? 

.You need not make any mist about it; for you know, or can 
know if you will, whether you have any reason to look for a 
revival here. 

2. You see why you have not a revival. It is only because 
you don’t -want one. Because you are not praying for it, nor 
arfxious for it, nor putting forth efforts for it. I appeal to your 
own consciences. Are you making these efforts now, to pro¬ 
mote a revival ? You know, brethren, what the truth is about 
it. Will you stand up and say that you have made the efforts 
for a revival and been disappointed—that you have cried to 
God, “ Wilt thou not revive us ?” and God would not do it ? 

3. Do you wish for a revival ? Will you have one ? If God 
should ask you this moment, by an audible voice from heaven, 
“ Do you want a revival ?” would you dare to say, Yes ? “ Are 
you willing to make the sacrifices?” would you answer, Yes? 
“ When shall it begin ?” would you answer, Let it begin to¬ 
night—let it begin here—let it begin in my heart NOW ? 
Would you dare to say so to God, if you should hear his voice 
to-night ? 



LECTURE III. 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 

Text.—B reak up your fallow ground; for it 19 time to seek the Lord, till he 
come and rain righteousness upon you.—H osea x. 12 . 

The Jews were a nation of farmers, and it is therefore a 
common thing in the. Scriptures to refer for illustrations to 
their occupation, and to the scenes with which farmers and 
shepherds are familiar. The prophet Hosea addresses them 
as a nation of backsliders, and reproves them for their idolatry, 
and threatens them with the judgments of God. I have showed 
you in my first lecture what a revival is not—what it is—and 
the agencies to be employed in promoting it; and in my second, 
when it is needed—its importance—and when it may be expected. 
My design in this lecture is to show, 

HOW A REVIVAL IS TO BE PROMOTED. 

A revival consists of two parts; as it respects the church, 
and as it respects the ungodly. I shall speak to-night of a 
Revival in the church. Fallow ground is ground which has 
once been tilled, but which now lies waste, and needs to be broken 
up and mejlowed, before it is suited to receive grain. I shall 
show, as it respects a revival in the church, 

1. What it is to break up the fallow ground, in the sense o 
the text. 

2. How it is.to he performed. 

I. WHAT IS IT TO BREAK UP THE FALLOW GROUND? 

To bleak up the fallow ground, is to break up your hearts —■ 
to prepare your minds to bring forth fruit unto God. The mind 
of man is often compared in the Bible to ground, and the word 
of God to seed sown in it, and the fruit represents the actions 
and affections of those who receive it. To break up the fallow 
ground, therefore, is to bring the mind into such a state, that it 
is fitted to receive the word of God. Sometimes your hearts get 
matted down hard and dry, and all run to waste, till there is no 
such thing as getting fruit from them till they are all broken 
up, and mellowed down, and fitted to receive the word of God. 
It is this softening of the heart, so as to make it feel the truth, 
which the prophet calls breaking up your fallow ground. 



34 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 

II. HOW IS THE FALLOW GROUND TO BE BROKEN UP? 

1. It is not by any direct efforts to feel. People run into h 
mistake on this subject, from not making the laws of mind the 
object of thought. There are great errors on the subject of the 
laws which govern the mind. People talk about religious feel¬ 
ing, as if they thought they could, by direct effort, call forth 
emotion. But this is not the way the mind acts. No man can 
make himself feel in this way, merely by trying to feel. The 
emotions of the mind are not directly under our control. We 
cannot by willing, or by direct volition, call forth our emotions. 
We might as well think to call spirits up from the deep. The 
emotions are purely involuntary states of mind. They naturally 
and necessarily exist in the mind under certain circumstances 
calculated to excite them. But they can be controlled indirectly. 
Otherwise there would be no moral character in our emotions, 
if there were not a way to control them. We cannot say, “ Now 
I will feel so and so towards such an object.” But we can 
command our attention to it, and look at it intently, till the 
proper feeling arises. Let a man who is aw T ay from his family, 
bring them up before his mind, and will he not feel ? But it is 
not by saying to himself, “Now I will feel deeply for my fam¬ 
ily.” A man can direct his attention to any object, about which 
he ought to feel and wishes to feel, and in that way he will 
call into existence the proper emotions. Let a man call up his 
enemy before his mind, and his feelings of enmity will rise. 
So if a man thinks of God, and fastens his mind on any parts of 
God’s character, he will feel—emotions will come up, by the 
very laws of mind. If he is a friend of God, let him contemplate 
God as a gracious and holy being, and he will have emotions 
of friendship kindled up in his mind. If he is an enemy of 
God, only let him get the true character of God before his mind, 
and look at it, and fasten his attention on it, and his enmity will 
rise against God. 

If you wish to break up the fallow ground of your hearts, and 
make your minds feel on the subject of religion, you must go 
to work just as you would to feel on any other subject. Instead of 
keeping your thoughts on every thing else, and then imagine 
that by going to a few meetings you will get your feelings en¬ 
listed, go the common sense way to work, as you would on any 
other subject. It is just as easy to make your minds feel on 
the subject of religion as it is on any other subject. God has 
put these states of mind just as absolutely under your control, 
as the motions of your limbs. If people were as unphilosophical 




HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


35 


about moving- their limbs, as they are about regulating their 
emotions, you would never have gotten here to meeting to-night. 

If you mean to break up the fallow ground of your hearts, 
you must begin by looking at your hearts—examine and note 
the state of your minds, and see where you are. Many never 
seem to think about this. They pay no attention to their own 
hearts, and never know whether they are doing well in reli¬ 
gion or not—whether they are gaining ground or going back 
—whether they are fruitful, or lying waste like fallow ground. 
Now you must draw off your attention from other things, and 
look into this. Make a business of it. Don’t be in a hurry. Ex¬ 
amine thoroughly the state of your hearts, and see where you 
are—whether you are walking with God every day, or walk¬ 
ing with the devil—whether you are serving God or serving 
the devil most—whether you are under the dominion of the 
prince of darkness, or of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

To do all this, you must set yourselves at work to consider 
your sins. You must examine yourselves. And by this I do 
not mean, that you must stop and look directly within to see 
what is the present state of your feelings. That is the very 
way to put a stop to all feeling. This is just as absurd as it 
would be for a man to shut his eyes on the lamp, and try to 
turn his eyes inward to find out whether there was any image 
painted on the retina. The man complains that he don’t see 
any thing ! And why? Because he has turned his eyes away 
from the objects of sight. The truth is, our moral feelings are 
as much an object of consciousness as our senses. And the way 
to find them out is to go on acting, and employing our minds. 
Then we can tell our moral feelings by consciousness, just as I 
could tell my natural feelings by consciousness, if I should put 
my hand in the fire. 

Self-examination consists in looking at your lives, in consi¬ 
dering your actions, in calling up the past, and learning its 
true character. Look back over your past history. Take up 
your individual sins one by one, and look at them. I do not 
mean that you should just cast a glance at your past life, and 
see that it has been full of sins, and then go to God and make 
a sort of general confession, and ask for pardon. That is not 
the way. You must take them up one by one. It will be a 
good thing to take a pen and paper, as you go over them, and 
write them down as they occur to you. Go over them as care¬ 
fully as a merchant goes over his books; and as often as a sin 
comes before your memory, add it to the list. General confes¬ 
sions of sin will never do. Your sins were committed one by 


36 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


one; and as far as you can come at them, they ought to be re¬ 
viewed and repented of one by one. Now begin; and take up 
first what are commonly, but improperly , called your 

SINS OF OMISSION. 

1. Ingratitude. Take this sin, for instance, and write down 
under it all the instances you can remember, wherein you have 
received favors from God, for which you have never exercised 
gratitude. How many cases can you remember? Some re¬ 
markable providence, some wonderful turn of events, that saved 
you from ruin. Set down the instances of God’s goodness to 
you when you were in sin, before your conversion. Then the 
mercy of God in the circumstances of your conversion, for 
which you have never been half thankful enough. The nu¬ 
merous mercies you have received since. How long the cata¬ 
logue of instances, where youT ingratitude is so black that you 
are forced to hide your face in confusion! Now go on your 
knees, and confess them one by one to God, and ask forgiveness. 
The very act of confession, by the laws of suggestion, will bring 
up others to your memory. Put down these. Go over these 
three or four times in this way, and you will find an astonishing 
amount of mercies, for which you have never thanked God. 
Then take another sin. Let it be, 

2. Want of love, to God. Write that down, and go over all 
the instances you can remember, when you did not give to the 
blessed God that hearty love which you ought. 

Think how grieved and alarmed you would be, if you disco¬ 
vered any flagging of affection for you, in your wife, husband, 
or children;—if you saw somebody else engrossing their hearts, 
and thoughts, and time. Perhaps, in such a case, you would 
well nigh die with a just and virtuous jealousy. Now, God 
styles himself a jealous God ; and have you not given your heart 
to other loves; played the harlot, and infinitely offended him? 

3. Neglect of the Bible. Put down the cases, when for days, 
and perhaps for weeks—yea, it may be, even for months to¬ 
gether, you had no pleasure in God’s word. Perhaps you did 
not read a chapter, or if you read it, it was in a way that was 
still more displeasing to God. Many people read over a whole 
chapter in such a way, that if they were put under oath when 
they have done, they could not tell what they have been read¬ 
ing. With so little attention do they read, that they cannot re¬ 
member where they have read from morning till evening, un¬ 
less they put in a string or turn down a leaf. This demonstrates 
that they did not lay to heart what they read, that they did not 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


37 


make it a subject of reflection. If you were reading a novel, 
or any other piece of intelligence that greatly interests you, 
would you not remember what you read last ? And the fact 
that you fold a leaf or put in a string, demonstrates that you 
read rather as a task, than from love or reverence for the word 
of God. The word of God is the rule of your duty. And do 
you pay so little regard to it as not to remember what you read ? 
If so, no wonder that you live so at random, and that your reli¬ 
gion is such a miserable failure. 

4. Unbelief. Instances in which you have virtually charged 
the God of truth with lying, by your unbelief of his express 
promises and declarations. God has promised to give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask him. Now, have you believed this? 
Have you expected him to answer? Have you not virtually 
said in your hearts, when you prayed for the Holy Spirit, “ I 
do not believe that I shall receive it?” If you have not be¬ 
lieved nor expected you should Teceive the blessing, which God 
has expressly promised, you have charged him with lying. 

5. Neglect of prayer. Times when you omitted secret 
prayer, family prayer, and prayer meetings, or have prayed in 
such a way as more grievously to offend God, than to have 
neglected it altogether. 

6. Neglect of the means of grace. When you have suffered 
trifling excuses to prevent your attending meetings, have neglect¬ 
ed and poured contempt upon the means of salvation, merely 
from disrelish of spiritual duties. 

7. The manner in which you have performed those duties— 
want of feeling—want pf faith—worldly frame of mind—so 
that your words were nothing but the mere chattering of a 
wretch, that did not deserve that God should feel the least care 
for him. When you have fallen down upon your knees, and 
said your prayers, in such an unfeeling and careless manner, 
thatifyou had been put under oath five minutes after you left your 
closet, you could not have told what you had been praying for. 

8. Your want of love for the souls of your fellow-men. Look 
round upon your friends and relations, and remember how little 
compassion you have felt for them. ^ ou have stood by and 
seen them going right to hell, and it seems as though you did 
not care if they did. How many days have there been, in which 
you did not make their condition the subject of a single fervent 
prayer, or even an ardent desire for their salvation? 

9. Your want of care for the heathen. Perhaps you have 
not cared enough for them to attempt to learn their condition; 
perhaps not even to take the Missionary Herald. Look at 





38 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


this, and see how much you do really care for the heathen, and 
set down honestly the real amount of your feelings for them, 
and your desire for their salvation. Measure your desire for 
their salvation by the self-denial you practise, in giving of your 
substance to send them the gospel. Do you deny yourself 
even the hurtful superfluities of life, such as tea, coffee, and 
tobacco ? Do you retrench your style of living, and really sub¬ 
ject yourself to any inconvenience to save them ? Do you daily 
pray for them in your closet? Do you statedly attend the 
monthly concert ? Are you from month to month laying by 
something to put into the treasury of the Lord, when you go up 
to pray ? If you are not doing these things, and if your soul 
is not agonized for the poor benighted heathen, why are you 
such a hypocrite, as to pretend to be a Christian ? Why, your 
profession is an insult to Jesus Christ! 

10. Your neglect of family duties. How you have lived 
before them, how you have prayed, what an example you have 
set before them. What direct efforts do you habitually make 
for their spiritual good ? What duty have you not neglected ? i 

11. Neglect of social duties. 

12. Neglect of watchfulness over your own life. Instances in 
which you have hurried over your private duties, and not taken 
yourself to task, nor honestly made up your accounts with 
God. Where you have entirely neglected to watch your con¬ 
duct, and have been off your guard, and have sinned before the 
world, and before the church, and before God. 

13. Neglect to watch over your brethren. How often have 
you broken your covenant, that you,would watch over them 
in the Lord ! How little do you know or care about the state 
of their souls ! And yet you are under a solemn oath to per¬ 
form it. What have you done to make yourself acquainted 
with them ? How many of them have you interested yourself 
for, to know their spiritual state ? Go over the list, and wher¬ 
ever you find there has been a neglect, write it down. How 
many times have you seen your brethren growing cold in reli¬ 
gion, and have not spoken to them about it? You have seen 
them beginning to neglect one duty after another, and you did 
not reprove them in a brotherly way. You have seen them 
falling into sin, and you let them go on. And yet you pretend 
to love them. What a hypocrite ! Would you see your wife 
or child going into disgrace, or into the fire, and hold your 
peace ? No, you would not. What do you think of yourself 
then, to pretend to love Christians, and to love Christ, while 
you can see them going into disgrace, and say nothing to them ? 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL, 


39 


14. Neglect of self-denial . There are many professors who 
are willing to do almost any thing in religion, that does not 
fequire self-denial. But when they are called to do any thing 
that requires them to deny themselves, O! that is too much. 
They think they are doing a great deal for God, and doing 
about as much as he ought to ask in reason, if they are only 
doing what they can do about as well as not; hut they are not 
willing to deny themselves any comfort or convenience what¬ 
ever, for the sake of serving the Lord. They will not willingly 
suffer reproach for the name of Christ. Nor will they deny 
themselves the luxuries of life, to save a world from hell. So 
far are they from remembering that self-denial is a condition of 
discipleship , that they don’t know what self-denial is. They 
never have really denied themselves a riband or a pin for 
Christ, and for the gospel. O, how soon such professors will 
be in hell! Some are giving of their abundance , and are giving 
much, and are ready to complain that others don’t give more; 
when, in truth, they do not give any thing that they need, any 
thing that they could enjoy, if they kept it. They only give 
of their surplus wealth; and perhaps that poor woman, who 
puts in twelve and a half cents at the monthly concert, has exer¬ 
cised more self-denial than they have in giving thousands'. 

From these we now turn to 

SINS OF COMMISSION. 

1. Worldly mindedness. What has been the state of your 
heart in regard to your worldly possessions? Have you looked 
at them as really yours —as if you had a right tq dispose of 
them as your own, according.to your own will? If you have, 
write that down. If you have loved property, and sought after 
it for its own sake, or to gratify lust or ambition, or a worldly 
spirit, or to lay it up for your families, you have sinned, and 
must repent. 

2. Pride. Recollect all the instances you can, in which you 
have detected yourself in the exercise of pride. Vanity is a 
particular form of pride. How many times have you detected 
yourself in consulting vanity, about your dress and appearance ? 
How many times have you thought more, and taken more 
pains, and spent more time, about decorating your body to go 
to church, than you have about preparing your mind for the 
worship of God? You have gone to the house of God caring 
more how you appear outwardly in the sight of mortal men, 
than how your soul appears in the sight of the heart-searching 
God. You have in fact set up yourself to be worshipped by 


40 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


them, rather than prepared to worship God yourself. You 
came to divide the worship of God’s house, to draw off the at¬ 
tention of God’s people to look at your pretty appearance. It 
is in vain to pretend now, that you don’t care any thing about 
having people look at you. Be honest about it. Would you 
take all this pains about your looks if every body was blind ? 

3. Envy. Look at the cases in which you were envious at 
those who you thought were above you in any respect. Or 
perhaps you have envied those who have been more talented 
or more useful than yourself. Have you not so envied some, 
that you have been pained to hear them praised ? It has been 
more agreeable to you to dwell upon their faults, than upon 
their virtues, upon their failures, than upon their success. Be 
honest with yourself, and if you have harbored this spirit of 
hell, repent deeply before God, or he will never forgive you. 

4. Censoriousness. Instances in which you have had a 
bitter spirit, and spoken of Christians in a manner entirely 
devoid of charity and love—charity, which requires you always 
to hope the best the case will admit, and to put the best con¬ 
struction upon any ambiguous conduct. 

5. Slander. The times you have spoken behind people’s 

oacKs of tlisir faults, real or supposed, of members ef the 

church or others, unnecessarily or without good reason. This 
is slander. You need not lie to be guilty of slander;—to tell 
the truth with the design to injure, is slander. 

6. Levity. How often have you trifled before God, as you 
would not have dared to trifle in the presence of an earthly sove¬ 
reign? You have either been an Atheist, and forgotten that 
there was a God, or have had less respect for him, and his 
presence, than you would have had for an earthly judge. 

7. Lying. Understand now what lying is. Any species of 
designed deception. If the deception is not designed it is not 
lying. But if you design to make an impression contrary to 
the naked truth, you lie. Put down all those cases you can 
recollect. Don’t call them by any soft name. God calls them 
LIES, and charges you with LYING, and you had better 
charge yourself correctly. 

How innumerable are the falsehoods perpetrated every day, 
in business, and in social intercourse, by words, and looks, and 
actions—designed to make an impression on others contrary to 
the truth! 

8. Cheating. Set down all the cases in which you have 
dealt with an individual, and done to him that which you 
would not like to have done to you. That is cheating. God 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


41 


has laid down a rule in the case; “All things whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” 
That is the rule; and now if you have not done so you are 
a cheat. Mind, the rule is not that you should do what you 
might reasonably expect them to do to you. That is a rule 
which would admit of every degree of wickedness. But it is 
“ As ye WOULD they should do to you.” 

9. Hypocrisy. For instance, in your prayers and confessions 
to God. Set down the instances in which you have prayed 
for things you did not really want. And the evidence is, 
that when you had done praying, you could not tell what you 
had prayed for. How many times have you confessed sins 
that you did not mean to break off, and when you had no 
solemn purpose not to repeat them? Yes, have confessed sins 
when you knew you as much expected to go and repeat them 
as you expected to live. 

10. Robbing God. Instances in which you have misspent 
your time, and squandered hours which God gave you to serve 
him and save souls, in vain amusements or foolish conversa¬ 
tion, reading novels, or doing nothing; cases where you have 
misapplied your talents and powers of mind; where you have 
squandered money on your lusts, or spent it for things you did 
not need, and which neither contributed to your health, comfort 
or usefulness. Perhaps some of you who are here to-night 
have laid out God’s money for TOBACCO. I will not speak 
of rum, for I presume there is no professor of religion here to¬ 
night that would drink rum. I hope there is no one that uses 
that filthy poison, tobacco. Think of a professor of religion, 
using God’s money to poison himsplf with tobacco! 

11. Bad temper. Perhaps you have abused your wife, o> 
your children, or your family, or servants, or neighbors. Writo 
it all down. 

12. Hindering others from being useful. Perhaps you have 
weakened their influence by insinuations against them. You 
have not only robbed God of your own talents, but tied the hand? 
of somebody else. What a wicked servant is he that loiters 
himself, and hinders the rest! This is done sometimes by ta¬ 
king their time needlessly; sometimes by destroying Christian 
confidence in them. Thus you have played into the hands of 
Satan, and not only showed yourself an idle vagabond, but pre¬ 
vented others from working. 

If you find you have committed a fault against an individual, 
and that individual is within your reach, go and confess it im¬ 
mediately, and get that out of the way. If the individual you 

4* 


42 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


have injured is too far off for you to go and see him, sit down 
and write him a letter, and confess the injury, pay the postage , 
and put it into the mail immediately. I say, pay the postage, 
or otherwise you will only make the matter worse. You will 
add to the former injury, by making him a bill of expense. The 
man that writes a letter on his own business, and sends it to 
another without paying the postage, is dishonest, and has cheated 
him out of so much. And if he would cheat a man out of a 
sixpence or shilling, when the temptation is so small, what would 
he not do were the temptation greater, and he had the prospect 
of impunity 'l If you have defrauded any body, send the money, 
the full amount and the interest. t 

Go thoroughly to work in all this. Go now. Don’t put it 
off; that will only make the matter worse. Confess to God 
those sins that have been committed against God, and to man 
those sins that have been committed against man. Don’t think 
of gettingoff by going round the stumbling blocks. Take them 
up out of the way. In breaking up your fallow ground, you 
must remove every obstruction. Things may be left that you 
may think little things, and you may wonder why you do not 
feel as you wish to in religion, when the reason is that your 
proud and carnal mind has covered up something which God re¬ 
quired you to confess and remove. Break up all the ground and 
turn it over. Don’t balk it, as the farmers say; don’t turn aside 
for little difficulties; drive the plow right through them, beam 
deep, and turn the ground all up, so that it may all be mellow and 
soft, and fit to receive the seed and bear fruit a hundred fold. 

When you have gone over your whole history in this w r ay, 
thoroughly, if you will then go over the ground the second time, 
and give your solemn and fixed attention to it, you will find that 
the things you have put down will suggest other things of which 
you have been guilty, connected with them, or near them. Then 
go over it a third time, and you will recollect other things con¬ 
nected with these. And you will find in the end that you can 
remember an amount of your history, and particular actions, 
even in this life, which you did not think you should remember 
m eternity. Unless you do take up your sins in this way, and 
consider them in detail, one by one, you can form no idea of the 
amount of your sins. You should go over it as thoroughly 
and as carefully, and as solemnly, as you would if you were just 
preparing yourself for the judgment. 

As you go over the catalogue of your sins, be sure to resolve 
upon present and entire reformation. Wherever you find any 
thing wrong, resolve at once, in the strength of God, to sin no 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


43 


more in that way. It Avili be of no benefit to examine yourself, 
unless you determine to amend in every 'particular that you find 
wrong in heart, temper, or conduct. 

If you find, as you go on with this duty, that your mind is 
still all dark, cast about you, and you will find there is some 
reason for the Spirit of God to depart from you. You have not 
been faithful and thorough. In the progress of such a work you 
have got to do violence to yourself, and bring yourself as a ra¬ 
tional being up to this work, with the Bible before you, and try 
your heart till you do feel. You need not expect that God will 
work a miracle for you to break up your fallow ground. It is 
to be done by means. Fasten your attention to the subject of 
your sins. You cannot look at your sins long and thoroughly, 
and see how bad they are, without feeling, and feeling deeply. 
Experience abundantly proves the benefit of going over our 
history in this way. Set yourself to the work now; resolve that 
you never will stop till you find you can pray. You never will 
have the spirit of prayer, till you examine yourselves, and con¬ 
fess your sins, and break up your fallow ground. You never 
will have the Spirit of God chvelling in you, till you have unrav¬ 
eled this whole mystery of iniquity, and spread out your sins 
before God. Let there be this deep Avork of repentance, and 
full confession, this breaking doAvn before God, and you will 
have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can bear up 
under. The reason why so few Christians knoAV any thing 
about the spirit of prayer, is because they never Avould take the 
pains to examine themselves properly, and so never kneAV what 
it was to have their hearts all broken up in this Avay. 

You see I have only begun to lay open this subject to-night. 

I want to lay it out before you, in the course of these lectures, 
so that if you will begin and go on to do as I say, the results 
will be just as certain as they are when the farmer breaks up a 
fallow field, and mellows it, and sows his grain. It Avili be so, 
if you will only begin in this way, and hold on till all your 
hardened and callous hearts break up. 

REMARKS. 

1. It Avili do no good to preach to you Avhile your hearts are 
in this hardened, and waste, and fallow state. The farmer 
might just as well soav his grain on the rock. It will bring 
forth no fruit. This is the reason why there are so many 
fruitless professors in the church, and why there is so much 
outside machinery, and so little deep-toned feeling in the 
church. Look at the Sabbath school for instance, and see how 


44 


HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL. 


much machinery there is, and how little of the power of godli* 
ness. If you go on in this way, the word of God will continue 
to harden you, and you will grow worse and worse, just as the 
rain and snow on an old fallow field makes the turf thicker, 
and the clods stronger. 

2. See why so much preaching is wasted, and worse than 
wasted. It is because the church will not break up their fal¬ 
low ground. A preacher may wear out his life, and do very 
little good, while there are so many stony-ground hearers, who 
have never had their fallow ground broken up. They are only 
half converted, and their religion is rather a change of opinion 
than a change of the feeling of their hearts. There is mechanical 
religion enough, but very little that looks like deep heart-work. 

3. Professors of religion should never satisfy themselves, or 
expect a revival, just by starting out of their slumbers, and blus¬ 
tering about, and making a noise, and talking to sinners. They 
must get their fallow ground broken up. It is utterly unphilo- 
sophical to think of getting engaged in religion in this way. 
If your fallow ground is broken up, then the way to get more 
feeling, is to go out and see sinners on the road to hell, and 
talk to them, and guide inquiring souls, and you will get more 
feeling. You may get into an excitement without this break¬ 
ing up; you may show a kind of zeal, but it won’t last long, 
and it won’t take hold of sinners, unless your hearts are broken 
up. The reason is, that you go about it mechanically, and 
have not broken up your fallow ground. 

4. And now, finally, will you break up your fallow ground 7 
Will you enter upon the course now pointed out, and persevere 
till you are thoroughly awake ? If you fail here, if you don’t 
do this, and get prepared, you can go no further with me in 
this course of lectures. I have gone with you as far as it is of 
any use to go, until your fallow ground is broken up. Now, 
you must make thorough work upon this point, or all I have 
further to say will do you little good. Nay, it will only harden 
and make you worse. If, when next Friday night arrives, it 
finds you with unbroken hearts, you need not expect to be bene¬ 
fited by what I shall say. If you don’t set about this work 
immediately, I shall take it for granted that you don’t mean to 
be revived, that you have forsaken your minister, and mean to 
let him go up to battle alone. If you don’t do this, I charge 
you with having forsaken Christ, with refusing to repent and 
do your first work. But if you will be prepared to enter upon 
the work, I propose, God willing, next Friday evening, to lead 
you into the work of saving sinners. 


LECTURE IV. 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 

Text.— The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.— 
James v. 16 . 

The last lecture referred principally to the confession of sin. 
To-night my remarks will be chiefly confined to the subject of 
intercession, or prayer. There are two kinds of means requi¬ 
site to promote a revival; one to influence men, the other to 
influence God. The truth is employed ta influence men, and 
prayer to move God. When I speak of moving God, I do not 
mean that God’s mind is changed by prayer, or that his dispo¬ 
sition or character is changed. But prayer produces such a 
change in us as renders it consistent for God to do as it would 
not be consistent for him to do otherwise. When a sinner re¬ 
pents, that state of feeling makes it proper for God to forgive 
him. God has always been ready to forgive him on that con¬ 
dition, so that when the sinner changes his feelings, and re¬ 
pents, it requires no change of feeling in God to pardon him. 
It is the sinner’s repentance that renders his forgiveness pro¬ 
per, and is the occasion of God’s acting as he does. So when 
Christians offer effectual prayer, their state of feeling renders 
it proper for God to answer them. He was always ready to 
bestow the blessing, on the condition that they felt right, and 
offered the right kind of prayer. Whenever this change takes 
place in them, and they offer the right kind of prayer, then 
God, without any change in himself, can answer them. When 
we offer effectual fervent prayer for others, the fact that we 
offer such prayer renders it consistent for him to do what we 
pray for, when otherwise it would not have been consistent. 

Prayer is an essential link in the chain of causes that lead 
to a revival; as much so as truth is. Some have zealously 
used truth to convert men, and laid very little stress on prayer. 
They have preached, and talked, and distributed tracts with 
great zeal, and then wondered that they had so little success. 
And the reason was, that they forgot to use the other branch of 
the means, effectual prayer. They overlooked the fact, that 
truth by itself will never produce the effect, without the Spirit 
of God. 

Sometimes it happens that those who are the most engaged 


46 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


in employing truth, are not the most engaged in prayer. This 
is always unhappy.—For unless they, or somebody else, 
have the spirit of prayer, the truth hy itself will do nothing 
but harden men in impenitence. Probably in the day of judg¬ 
ment it will he found that nothing is ever done by the truth, 
used ever so zealously, unless there is a spirit of prayer some¬ 
where in connection with the presentation of truth. 

Others err on the other side. Not that they lay too much 
stress on prayer. But they overlook the fact that prayer might 
be offered for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Be¬ 
cause sinners are not converted hy direct contact of the Holy 
Ghost, but by the truth, employed as a means. To expect the 
conversion of sinners by prayer alone, without the employ¬ 
ment of truth, is to tempt God. 

The subject of discourse this evening, is 

PREVAILING PRAYER. 

I. I propose to show what is effectual or prevailing prayer, 

II. State some of the most essential attributes of prevailing 
prayer. 

III. Give some reasons why God requires this kind of 

prayer. # - 

IV. Show that such prayer will avail much. 

I. I proceed to show what is prevailing prayer. 

1. Effectual, prevailing prayer, does not consist in benevo¬ 
lent desires merely. Benevolent desires are doubtless pleasing 
to God Such desires pervade heaven, and are found in all 
holy beings. But they are not prayer. Men may have these 
desires as the angels and glorified spirits have them. But this 
is not the effectual, prevailing prayer, spoken of in the text. 
Prevailing prayer is something more than this. 

2. Prevailing, or effectual prayer, is that, prayer which attains 
the blessing that it seeks. It is that prayer which effectually moves 
God. The very idea of effectual prayer is, that it effects its object. 

II. I will state some of the most essential attributes of pre¬ 
vailing prayer. I cannot detail in full all the things that go to 
make up prevailing prayer. But I will mention some things 
that are essential to it; some things which a person must do in 
order to prevail in prayer. 

1. He must 'pray for a definite object. He need not expect 
to offer such prayer, if he prays git random, without any dis¬ 
tinct or definite object. He must have an object distinctly be¬ 
fore his mind. I speak now of secret prayer. Many people 
go away into their closets, because they must say their prayers. 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


47 


The time has come that they are in the habit of going by them¬ 
selves for prayer, in the morning, or at noon, or at whatever 
time of day it may be. And instead of having, any thing to 
say, any definite object before their mind, they fall down on 
their knees, and pray for just what comes into their minds, for 
every thing that floats in their imagination at the time, and 
when they have done, they could not tell hardly a word of 
what they had been praying for. This is not effectual prayer. 
What should we think of any body who should try to move a 
legislature so, and should say, “ Now it is winter, and the legis¬ 
lature is in session, and it is time to send up petitions,” and 
should go up to the legislature and petition at random, without 
any definite object? Do you think such petitions would move 
the legislature ? 

A man must have some definite object before his mind. He 
cannot pray effectually for a variety of objects at once. The 
mind of man is so constituted that it cannot fasten its desires 
intensely upon many things at the same time. All the instances 
of effectual prayer recorded in the Bible were of this kind. 
Wherever you see that the blessing sought for in prayer was 
attained, you will find that the prayer which was offered was 
prayer for that definite object. 

2. Prayer, to be effectual, must be in accordance with the 
revealed will of God. To pray for things contrary to the 
revealed will of God, is to tempt God. There are three ways 
in which God’s will is revealed to men for their guidance in 
prayer. 

(1.) By express promises or predictions in the Bible, that 
he will give or do certain things. Either by express promises 
in regard to particular things, or promises in general terms, so 
that we may apply them to particular things. For instance, 
there is this promise: “ Whatsoever things ye desire, when ye 
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” 

(2.) Sometimes God reveals his will by his providence. 
When he makes it clear that such and such events are about to 
take place, it is as much a revelation as if he had written it in 
his word. It would he impossible to reveal every thing in the 
Bible. But God often makes it clear to those who have spi¬ 
ritual discernment, that it is his will to grant such and such 
blessings. 

(3.) By his Spirit. When God’s people are at a loss what 
to pray for, agreeable to his will, his Spirit often instructs them. 
Where there is no particular revelation, and providence leaves 
it dark, and we know not what to pray for as we ought, we are 


48 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


expressly told, that “ the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities,” and 
“ the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings 
that cannot be uttered.” -A great deal has been said on the 
subject of praying in faith for things not revealed. It is object¬ 
ed, that this doctrine implies a new revelation. I answer, that, 
new or old, it is the very revelation that Jehovah says he makes. 
It is just as plain here, as if it were now revealed by a voice 
from heaven, that the Spirit of God helps the people of God to 
pray according to the will of God, when they themselves know 
not what things they ought to pray tor. “ And he that search- 
eth the heart knoweth the mind of the Spirit,” because he maketh 
intercession for the saints according to the will of God, and he 
leads Christians to pray for just those things, with groanings 
that cannot be uttered. When neither the word nor provi¬ 
dence enables them to decide, then let them be filled with the 
Spirit, as God commands them to be. He says, “ Be ye filled 
with the Spirit.” And He will lead their minds to such things 
as God is willing to grant. 

3. To pray effectually, you must pray with submission to 
the will of God. Don't confound submission with indifference. 
No two things are more unlike. I once knew an individual 
come where there was a revival. He himself was cold, and 
did not enter into the spirit of it, and had no spirit of prayer; 
and when he heard the brethren pray as if they could not be 
denied, he was shocked at their boldness, and kept all the time 
insisting on the importance of praying with submission; when 
it was as plain as any thing could be, that he confounded sub 
mission with indifference. 

So again, don’t confound submission in prayer with a general 
confidence that God will do what is right. It is proper to have 
this confidence that God will do what is right in all things. 
But this is a different thing from submission. What I mean 
by submission in prayer, is, acquiescence in the revealed will 
of God. To submit to any command of God is to obey it. 
Submission to some supposable or possible, but secret decree of 
God, is not submission. To submit to any dispensation of Pro¬ 
vidence is impossible till it comes. For we never can know 
what the event is to be, till it takes place. Take a case: Da¬ 
vid, when his child was sick, was distressed, and agonized in 
prayer, and refused to be comforted. He took it so much to 
heart, that when the child died, his servants were afraid to tell 
him the child was dead, for fear he would vex himself still 
worse. But as soon as he heard that the child was dead, he 
laid aside his grief, and arose, and asked for food, and ate and 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


49 


drank as usual. While the child was yet alive, he did not 
know what was the will of God, and so he fasted and prayed, 
and said, “Who can tell whether God will be gfacious to me, 
that my child may live?” He did not know but that his prayer 
and agony was the very thing on which it turned, whether the 
child was to live or not. He thought that if he humbled him¬ 
self and entreated God, perhaps God would spare him this 
blow. But as soon as God’s will appeared, and the child was 
dead, he bowed like a saint. He seemed not qnly to acquiesce, 
but actually to take a satisfaction in it. A I shall go to him, but 
hq shall not return to me.” This was true submission. He 
reasoned correctly in the case. While he had no revelation of 
the will of God, he did not know but what the child’s recovery 
depended on his prayer. But when he had a revelation of the 
will of God, he submitted. While the will of God is not known, 
to submit, without prayer, is tempting God. Perhaps, and for 
aught you know, the fact of your offering the right kind of 
prayer, may be the thing on which the event turns. In the 
case of an impenitent friend, the very condition on which he is 
to be saved from hell, may be the fervency and importunity of 
your prayer for that individual. 

4. Effectual prayer for an object implies a desire for that ob¬ 
ject commensurate with its importance. If a person truly desires 
any blessing, his desires will bear some proportion to the great 
ness of the blessing. The desires of the Lord Jesus Christ for. 
the blessing he prayed for, were amazingly strong, and amount 
ed even to agony. If the desire for an object is strong, and is 
a benevolent desire, and the thing not contrary to the will and 
providence of *God| the presumption is, that it will be granted. 
There are two reasons for this presumption: 

(1.) From the general benevolence of God. If it is a desi¬ 
rable object; if, so far as we can see, it would be an act of be¬ 
nevolence in God to grant it, his general benevolence is pre¬ 
sumptive evidence that he will grant it. 

(2.) If you find yourself exercised with benevolent desires 
for ahy object, there is a strong presumption that the. Spirit of 
God is exciting these very desires, and stirring you up to pray 
for that object, so that it may be granted in answer to prayer. 
In such a case no degree of desire or importunity in prayer is 
improper. A Christian may come up, as it were, and take 
hold of the hand of God. See the case of Jacob, when he ex¬ 
claimed, in an agony of desire, “ I will not let thee go, except 
thou bless me.” Was God displeased with his boldne >s and 
importunity ? Not at all; but he granted him the very tl ing he 


50 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


prayed for. So in the case of Moses. God said to Moses, 
“ Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their 
name from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation 
mightier and greater than they.” What did Moses, do? Did 
he stand aside and let God do as he said? No, his mind runs 
back to the Egyptians, and he thinks how they will triumph. 
“Wherefore should the Egyptians say, For mischief did he 
bring them out.” It seemed as if he took hold of the uplifted 
hand of God, to avert the blow. Did God rebuke him for his 
interference, and tell him he had no business to interfere? 
No; it seemed as if he was unable to deny any thing to such 
importunity, and so Moses stood in the gap, and prevailed with 
God. 

It is said of Xavier, the missionary, that he was once called 
to pray for a man who was sick, and he prayed so fervently 
that he seemed as it were to do violence to heaven—so the 
writer expresses it. And he prevailed, and the man recovered. 

Such prayer is often offered in the present day, when Chris¬ 
tians have been wrought up to such a pitch of importunity and 
such a holy boldness, that afterwards, when they looked back 
upon it, they were frightened and amazed at themselves, to 
think they should dare to exercise such importunity with God. 
And yet these - prayers have prevailed, and obtained the bless¬ 
ing. And many of these persons, that I am acquainted with, 
are among the holiest persons I know in the world. 

5. Prayer, to be effectual, must be offered from right mo¬ 
tives. Prayer should not be selfish, but dictated by a supreme 
regard for the glory of God. A great deal of prayer is offered 
from pure selfishness. Women sometimes pray for their hus¬ 
bands, that they may be converted, because they say, “ It would 
be so much more pleasant, to have my husband go to meeting 
with me,” and all that. And they seem never to lift up their 
thoughts above self at all. They do not seem to think how 
their husbands are dishonoring God by their sins, and how 
God would be glorified in their conversion. So it is with pa¬ 
rents very often. They can’t bear to think that their children 
should be lost. They pray for them very earnestly indeed. 
But if you go to talk with them, they are very tender, and tell you 
how good their children are, how they respect religion, and 
they think they are almost Christians now; and so they talk as 
if they were afraid you would hurt their children if you tell them 
the truth. They do not think how such amiable and lovely 
children are dishonoring God by their sins; they are only 
thinking what a dreadful thing it will be for them to go to hell 






PREVAILING PRAYER. 


51 


Ah I unless their thoughts rise higher than this, their prayers 
will never prevail with a holy God. The temptation to selfish 
motives is so strong, that there is reason to fear a great many 
parental prayers never rise above the yearnings of parental 
tenderness. And that is the reason why so many prayers are 
not heard, and why so many pious, praying parents have un¬ 
godly children. Much of the prayer for the heathen world, 
seems to be based on no higher principle than sympathy. Mis¬ 
sionary agents, and others, are dwelling almost exclusively 
upon the six hundred millions of heathens going to hell, while 
little is said of their dishonoring God. This is a great evil • 
and'until the church have higher motives for prayer and mis¬ 
sionary effort than sympathy for the heathen, their prayers and 
efforts will never amount to much. 

6. Prayer, to be effectual, must he by the intercession of the 
Spirit. You never can expect to offer prayer according to the 
will of God without the Spirit. In the first two cases, it is not 
because Christians are unable to offer such prayer, where the 
will of God is revealed in his word, or indicated by his provi¬ 
dence. They are able to do. it, just as they are able to be holy. 
But the fact is, that they are so wicked, that they never do offer 
such prayer, without they are influenced by the Spirit of God. 
There must be a faith, such as is produced by the effectual 
operation of the Holy Ghost. 

7. It must be persevering prater. As a general thing, 
Christians who have backslidden and lost the spirit of prayer, 
will not get at once into the habit of persevering prayer. Their 
minds are not in a right state, and they cannot fix their minds, 
and hold on till the blessing comes. If their minds were in that 
state, that they would persevere till the answer comes, effectual 
prayer might be offered at once, as well as after praying ever 
so many times for an object. But th^y have to pray again and 
again, because their thoughts are so apt to wander away, and are 
so easily diverted from the object to something else. Until their 
minds get imbued with the spirit of prayer, they will not keep 
fixed to one point, and push their petition to an issue on the spot. 
Do not think you are prepared to offer prevailing prayer, if 
your feelings will let you pray once for an object, and then leave 
it. Most Christians come up to prevailing prayer by a protract¬ 
ed process. Their minds gradually become filled with anxiety 
about an object, so that they will even go about their business, 
sighing out their desires to God.. Just as the mother whose 
child is sick, goes round her house, sighing as if her heart 
would break. And if she is a praying mother, her sighs are 


52 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


breathed out to God all the day long. If she goes out of the 
room where her cjjild is, her mind is still on it; and if she is 
asleep, still her thoughts are on it, and she starts in her dreams, 
thinking it is dying. Her whole mind is absorbed in that sick 
child. This is the state of mind in which Christians offer pre¬ 
vailing prayer. 

What was the reason that Jacob wrestled all night in prayer 
with God % He knew that he had done his brother Esau a grea* 
injury, in getting away the birthright a long time ago. And now 
he was informed that his injured brother was coming to meet 
him, with an armed force altogether too powerful for him to con¬ 
tend agaigst. And there was great reason to suppose he was 
coming with a purpose of revenge. There were two reasons 
then why he should be distressed. The first was, that he had 
done this great injury, and had never made any reparation. The 
other was, that Esau was coming with a force sufficient to 
crush him. Now, what does he do ? Why, he first arranges 
everything ic the best manner he can to meet his brother, send¬ 
ing his present first, then his property, then his family, putting 
those he loved most farthest behind. And by this time his mind 
was so exercised that he could not contain himself. He goes 
away alone over the brook, and .pours out his very soul in an 
agony of prayer all night. And just as the day was breaking, 
the angel of the covenant said, “ Let me go;” and his wffiole 
being ms, as it w T ere, agonized at the thought of giving up, 
and he cried out, “ I will not let thee go except thou bless me.” 
His soul A\as wrought up into an agony, and he obtained the 
blessing, but he always bore the marks of .it, and showed that 
his body had been greatly affected by this mental struggle. This 
is prevailing prayer. 

Now, do not deceive yourselves with thinking that you offer 
effectual prayer, unless you have this intense desire for the 
blessing. I don’t believe in it. Prayer is not effectual unless 
it is offered up with an agony <ff desire. The apostle Paul 
speaks of it as a travail of the soul. Jesus Christ, when he 
was praying in the garden, was in such an agony, that he 
sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the 
ground. I have never known a person sweat blood; but I 
have known a person pray till the blood started from the nose. 
And I have known persons pray till they w r ere all wet with 
perspiration, in the coldest weather in winter. L have known 
persons pray for hours, till their strength was all exhausted 
with the agony of their minds. Such prayers prevailed with 
God. 




PREVAILING PRAYER. 


53 


This agony in prayer was prevalent in President Edwards’ 
day, in the revivals that then took place. It was one of the 
great stumbling blocks in those days, to persons who were op¬ 
posed to the revival, that people used to pray till the body was 
overpowered with their feelings. I will read a paragraph of 
what President Edwards says on the subject, to let you see that 
this is not a new thing in the church, but has always prevailed 
wherever revivals prevailed with power. It is from his 
Thoughts on Revivals. 

“We cannot determine that God never shall give any person 
so much of a discovery of himself, not only as to weaken their 
bodies, but to take away their lives. It is supposed by very 
learned and judicious divines, that Moses’ life was taken away 
after this manner; and this has also been supposed to be the 
case with some other saints. Yea, I do not see any solid, sure 
grounds any have to determine, that God shall never make 
such strong impressions on the mind by his Spirit, that shall be 
an occasion of so impairing the frame of the body, and particu¬ 
larly that part of the body, the brain, that persons shall be de¬ 
prived of the use of reason. As I said before, it is too much for 
us to determine, that God will not bring an outward calamity 
in bestowing spiritual and eternal blessings: so it is too much 
for us to determine, how great an outward calamity he will 
bring. If God give a great increase of discoveries of himself, 
and of love to him, the benefit is infinitely greater than the ca¬ 
lamity, though the life should presently after be taken away; 
yea, though the soul should not immediately be taken to 
heaven, but should lie some years in a deep sleep, and then be 
taken to heaven; or, which is much the same thing, if it be de¬ 
prived of the use of its faculties, and be inactive and unservicea¬ 
ble, as if it lay in a deep sleep for some years, and then should 
pass into glory. We cannot determine how great a calamity 
distraction is, when considered with all its consequences, and 
all that might have been consequent, if the distraction, had not 
happened ; nor indeed whether (thus considered) it be any ca¬ 
lamity at all, or whether it be not a mercy, by preventing some 
great sin, or some more dreadful thing, if it had not been. It 
was a great fault in us to limit a sovereign, all-wise God, whose 
judmgents are a great deep, and his ways past finding out, 
where he has not limited himself, and things concerning which 
he has not told us what his way shall be. It is remarkable, 
considering in what multitudes of instances, and to how great 
a degree, the frame of the body has been overpowered of late, 
that nersons’ lives have, notwithstanding, been preserved, and 

n* 


54 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


that the instances of those that have been deprived of reason, 
have been so very few, and those, perhaps all of them, persons 
under the peculiar disadvantage of a weak, vapory habit of 
body. A merciful and careful Divine hand is very manifest in it, 
that in so many instances where the ship has begun to sink, yet 
it has been upheld, and has not totally sunk. The instances of 
such as have been deprived of reason are so few, that certainly 
they are not enough to cause us to be in any fright, as though 
this work that has been carried on in the country, was like to 
be of baneful influence; unless we are disposed to gather up 
all that we can to darken it, and set it forth in frightful colors. 

“ There is one particular kind of exercise and concern of 
mind, that many have been overpowered by, that has been espe¬ 
cially stumbling to some;, and that is, the deep concern and 
distress that they have been in for the souls of others. I am 
sorry that any put us to the trouble of doing that which seems 
so needless, as defending such a thing as this. It seems like 
mere trifling in so plain a case, to enter into a formal and par¬ 
ticular debate, in order to determine whether there be any thing 
in the greatness and importance of the case, that will answer, 
and bear a proportion to the greatness of the concern that some 
have manifested. Men may be allowed, from no higher a prin¬ 
ciple than common ingenuity and humanity, to be very deeply 
concerned, and greatly exercised in mind, at seeing others in 
great danger of no greater a calamity than drowning, or being 
burnt up in a house on fire. And if so, then doubtless it will 
be allowed to be equally reasonable, if they saw them in danger 
of a calamity ten times greater, to be still much more concern¬ 
ed ; and so much more still, if the calamity was still vastly 
greater. And why then should it be thought unreasonable, 
and looked upon with a very suspicious eye, as if it must come 
from some bad cause, when persons are extremely concerned 
at seeing others in very great danger of suffering the fierceness 
and wrath of Almighty God to all eternity ? And besides, it 
will doubtless be allowed that those that have very great de¬ 
grees of the Spirit of God, that is, a spirit of love, may well be 
supposed to have vastly more of love and compassion to their 
fellow-creatures, than those that are influenced only by common 
humanity. Why should it be thought strange that those that 
are full of the Spirit of Christ, should be proportionably, in their 
love to souls, like to Christ ? who had so strong a love to them 
and concern for them, as to be willing to drink file dregs of the 
cup of God’s fury for them ; and at the same time that he offer* 
ed up his blood for souls, offered up also, as their high priest, 




PREVAILING PRAYER. 


55 


strong crying and tears, with an extreme agony, wherein the 
soul of Christ was, as it were, in travail for the souls of the 
elect; and therefore in saving them he is said to see of the 
travail of his soul. As such a spirit of love to and concern 
for souls was the spirit of Christ, so it is the spirit of the 
church; and therefore the church, in desiring and seeking that 
Christ might be brought forth in the world, and in the souls of 
men, is represented, Rev. xii., as ‘ a woman crying, travailing 
in birth, and pained to be delivered.’ The spirit of those that 
have been in distress for the souls of others, so far as I can dis¬ 
cern, seems not to be different from that of the apostle, who tra¬ 
vailed for souls, and was ready to wish himself accursed from 
Christ for others. And that of the Psalmist, Psalm cxix. 53, 

* Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked that 
forsake the law.’ And v. 136, * Rivers of waters run down 
mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.’ And that of the 
prophet Jeremiah, Jer. iv. 19, ‘ My bowels ! my bowels ! I am 
pained at my very heart! My heart maketh a noise in me! I 
cannot hold my peace! because thou hast heard. O my soul, 
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war !’ And so, chap. ix. 
1, and xiii. 17, and Isa. xxii. 4. We read of Mordecai, when 
he saw his people in danger of being destroyed with a temporal 
destruction, Esther iv. 1, that he ‘ rent his clothes, and put on 
sackcloth with ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, ■ 
and cried with a loud and bitter cry.’ And why then should 
persons be thought to be distracted, when they cannot forbear 
crying out at the consideration of the misery of those that are 
going to eternal destruction 'l 1 ** . 

I have read this to show that this thing was common in the 
great revivals of those days. It has always been so in all great 
revivals, and has been more or less common in proportion to the 
greatness, and extent, and depth of the work. It was so in the 
great revivals in Scotland, and multitudes used to be overpower¬ 
ed, and some almost died, by the depth of their agony. 

9. If you mean to pray effectually, you must pray a great 
deal. It was said of the apostle James, that after he was dead 
it was found his knees were callous like a camel’s knees, by 
praying so much. Ah! here was the secret of the success of 
those primitive ministers. They had callous knees. 

10. If you intend prayer to be effectual, it must be offered in 
the name of Christ. You cannot come to God in your own 
name. You cannot plead your own merits. But you can 


Edwards’ Works, vol. iv. p. 85, New York edition. 



56 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


come in a name that is always acceptable. You all know 
what >it is to use the name of a man. If you should go to the 
hank with .a draft or note, endorsed by John Jacob Astor, that 
would be giving you his name, and you know you could get 
the money from the bank just as well as he could himself. 
Now, Jesus Christ gives you the use of his name. And when 
you pray in the name of Christ, the meaning of it is, that you 
can prevail just as well as he could himself, and receive just as 
much as God’s well-beloved Son would if he were to pray him¬ 
self for the same things. But you must pray in faith. His 
name has all the virtue in your lips that it has in his own, and 
God is just as free to bestow blessings upon you, when you ask 
in the name of Christ, and in faith, as he would be to bestow 
them upon Christ, if he should ask. 

11. You cannot prevail in prayer, without renouncing all your 
sins. You must not only recall them to mind, and repent of 
them, but you must actually renounce them, and leave them 
off and in the purpose of your heart renounce them all for ever. 

12. You must pray in faith. You must expect to obtain 
the things you ask for. You need not look for an answer to 
prayer, if you pray without any expectation of obtaining it. 
You are not to form such expectations without any reason for 
them. In the cases I have supposed, there is a reason for the 
expectation. In case the thing is revealed in God’s word, if 
you pray without an expectation of receiving the blessings, 
you just make God a liar. If the will of God is indicated by 
his providence, you ought to depend on it, according to the 
clearness of the indication,,so far as to expect the blessing if 
you pray for it. And if you are led by his Spirit to pray for 
certain things, you have just as much reason to expect the 
thing to be done as if God had revealed it in his word. 

But some say, “ Will not this view of the leadings of the 
Spirit of God lead people into fanaticism?” I answer, that I 
know not* but many may deceive themselves in respect to this 
matter.—Multitudes have deceived themselves in regard to all 
the other points of religion. And if some people should think 
they are led by the Spirit of God, when it is nothing but their 
own imagination, is that any reason why those who know that 
they are led by the Spirit should not follow ? Many people 
suppose themselves to be converted when they are not. Is that 
any reason why we should not cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
Suppose some people are deceived in thinking they love God, 
is that any reason why the pious saint who knows he has the 
love of God shed abroad in his heart, should not give vent to 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


57 


his feelings in songs of praise? So I suppose some may de¬ 
ceive themselves in thinking they are led by the Spirit of God. 
But there is no need of being deceived. If people follow im¬ 
pulses, it is their own fault. I do not want you to follow im¬ 
pulses. I want you to be sober minded, and follow the sober, 
rational leadings of the Spirit of God. There are those who 
understand what I mean, and who know very well what it is 
to give themselves up to the Spirit of God in prayer. 

III. I will state some of the reasons why these things are 
essential to effectual prayer. Why does God require such 
prayer, sueh strong desires, such agonizing supplications 1 

1. These strong desires strongly illustrate the strength of 
God’s feelings. They are like the real feelings of God for 
impenitent sinners. When I have seen, as I sometimes have, 
the amazing strength of love for souLs that has been felt by 
Christians, I have been wonderfully impressed with the ama¬ 
zing love of God, and his desires for their salvation. The 
case of a certain woman, of whom I read, in a revival, made 
the greatest impression on my mind. She had such an unut¬ 
terable compassion and lo^e for souls, that she actually panted 
for breath. What must be the strength of the desire which God 
feels, when his Spirit produces in Christians such amazing 
agony, such throes of soul, such travail —God has chosen the 
best word to express it—it is travail—travail of the soul. 

I have seen a man of as much strength of intellect and muscle 
as any man in the community, fall down prostrate, absolutely 
overpowered by his unutterable desires for sinners. I know 
this is a stumbling block to many; and it always will be as long 
as their remain in the church so many blind and stupid profess¬ 
ors of religion. But I cannot doubt that these things are the 
work of the Spirit of God. O that the whole church could be 
so filled with the Spirit as to travail in prayer, till a nation 
should be born in a day! 

It is said in the word of God, that as soon “ as Zion travailed , 
she brought forth.” What does that mean ? I asked a professor 
of religion this question once. He was making exceptions about 
our ideas of effectual prayer, and I asked him what he supposed 
was meant by Zion’s travailing. “ O,” said he, “it means that as 
soon as the church walk together in the fellowship of the gospel, 
-then it will be said that Zion travels ! This walking together 
is called travelling .” Not the same term, you see. So much 
he knew. 

2. These strong desires that I have described, are the natural 
results of great benevolence and clear views of the danger of 


58 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


sinners. It is perfectly reasonable that it should be so. If the 
women who are in this house should look up there, and see a 
family burning to death in the fire, and hear their shrieks, and 
behold their agony, they would feel distressed, and it is very 
likely that many of them would faint away with agony. And 
nobody would wonder at it, or say they were fools or crazy to feel 
so much distressed at such an awful sight. They would think 
it strange if there were not some expressions of powerful feeling. 
Why is it any wonder, then, if Christians should feel as I have 
described, when they have clear views of the state of sinners, 
and the awful danger they are in ? The fact is, that those in¬ 
dividuals who never have felt so, have never felt much real be¬ 
nevolence, and their piety must be of a very superficial charac¬ 
ter. I do not mean to judge harshly, or to speak unkindly. 
But I state it as a simple matter of fact; and people may talk 
about it as they please, but I know that such piety is superficial. 
This is not censoriousness, but plain truth. 

People sometimes wonder at Christians’ having such feelings. 
Wonder at what! Why, at the natural, and philosophical, and 
necessary results of deep piety towa»ds God, and deep benevo¬ 
lence towards man, in view of the great danger they see sinners 
to be in. 

3. The soul of a Christian, when it is thus burdened, mffist 
have relief. God rolls this weight upon the soul of a Christian, 
for the purpose of bringing him near to himself. Christians are 
often so unbelieving, that they will not exercise proper faith in 
God, till he rolls this burden upon them, so heavy that they 
cannot live under it, and then they must go to God for relief. It 
is like the case of many a convicted sinner. God is willing to 
receive him at once, if he will come right to him, with faith in 
Jesus Christ. But the sinner will not come. He hangs back, 
and struggles, and groans under the burden of his sins, and will 
not throw himself upon God, till his burden of conviction be¬ 
comes so great that he can live no longer; and when he is 
driven to desperation, as it were, and feels as if he was ready to 
sink into hell, he Inakes a mighty plunge, and throws himself 
upon God’s mercy as his only hope. It was his duty to come 
before. God had no delight in his distress, for its own sake. It 
was only the sinner’s obstinacy that created the necessity for all 
this distress. He Would not come without it. So when profess¬ 
ors of religion get loaded down with the weight,of souls, they 
often pray again and again, and yet the burden is not gone, nor 
their distress abated,'because they have never thrown it all upon 
God in faith. But they can’t get rid of the burden. So long as 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


59 


their benevolence continues it will remain and increase, and un¬ 
less they resist and quench the Holy Ghost they can get no 
relief, until at length, when they are driven to extremity, they 
make a desperate effort, roll the burden off upon the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and exercise a child-like confidence in him. Then they 
feel relieved ; then they feel as if the soul they were praying for 
would be saved. The.burden is gone, and God seems in kindness 
to sooth down the mind to feel a sweet assurance that the blessing 
will be granted. Often, after a Christian has had this struggle, 
this agony in prayer, and has obtained relief in this way,"you 
will find the sweetest and most heavenly affections flow out— 
the soul rests sweetly and gloriously in God, and rejoices, “ with 
joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 

Do any of you think now, that there are no such things in the 
experience of believers? I tell you, if I had time, I could show 
you from President Edwards, and other approved writers, cases 
and descriptions just like this. Do you ask why we never have 
such things here in New York‘? I tell you, it is not at ail because 
you are so much wiser than Christians are in the country, or 
because you have so much more intelligence or more enlarged 
views of the nature of religion, or a more stable and well regulated 
piety. I tell yon, no; instead'of priding yourselves in being free 
from such extravagances, you ought to hide your heads, because 
Christians in New' York are so worldly, and have so much 
starch, and pride, and fashion, that they cannot come, down to such 
spirituality as this. I wish it could be so. O that there might 
be such a spirit in this city, and in this church ! I know' it would 
make a noise, if we had such things done here. But I would 
not care for that. Let them say, if they please, that the folks in 
Chatham Chapel are getting deranged. We need not be afraid 
of that; if w r e could live near enough to God to enjoy his 
Spirit in the manner I have described. 

4. These effects of the spirit of prayer* upon the body are 
themselves no part of religion. It is only that the body is 
often so weak that the feelings of the soul overpower it 
These bodily effects are not at all essential to prevailing prayer, 
but only a natural or physical result of highly excited emotions 
of the mind. It is not at all unusual for the body to be'weak¬ 
ened and even overcome by any powerful emotion of the mind, 
on other subjects besides religion. The door-keeper of Congress 
in the time of the revolution, fell down dead on the reception of 
some highly cheering intelligence. I knew a woman in 
Rochester, who was in a great agony of prayer for the conver¬ 
sion of her son-in-law. One morning he was at an anxious 




60 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


meeting, and she remained at home praying for him. At the 
close of the meeting, he came home a convert, and she was so 
rejoiced that she fell down and died on the spot. It is no more 
strange that these effects should be produced by religion than 
by strong feeling on any other subject. It is. not essential 
to prayer, but the natural result of great efforts of the mind. 

5. Doubtless one great reason why God requires the exer¬ 
cise of this agonizing prayer is, that it forms such a bond of 
union between Christ and the Church. It creates such a sym¬ 
pathy between them. It is as if Christ came and poured the 
overflowings of his own benevolent heart into his church, and 
led them to sympathize and to co-operate with him, as they 
nev'er do in any other way. They feel just as Christ feels—so 
full of compassion for sinners that they cannot contain them¬ 
selves. Thus it is often with those ministers who are distin¬ 
guished for their success in preaching to .sinners; they often 
have such compassion, such overflowing desires for their salva¬ 
tion, that it shows itself in their speaking, and their preaching, 
just as though Jesus Christ spoke through them. The words 
come from their lips fresh and warm, as if from the very heart 
of Christ. I do not mean that he dictates their words; but he 
excites the feelings that give utterance to them. Then you see 
a movement in the hearers, as if Christ himself spoke through 
lips of clay. 

6. This travailing in birth for souls creates also a remarka¬ 
ble bond of union between warm-hearted Christians and the 
young converts. Those who are converted appear very dear 
to the hearts that have had this spirit of prayer «for them. The 
feeling is like that of a mother for her first-born.—Paul ex¬ 
presses it beautifully, when he says, “ My little children!” 
His heart was warm and tender to them. “ My little children, 
of whom I travail in birth again ” They had backslidden, and 
he has all the agonies of a parent over a wandering child. 
“ I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you, the hope 
of glory.” In a revival, I have often noticed how those who 
have had the spirit of prayer, love the young converts. I 
know jthis is all algebra to those who have never felt it. 
But to those who have experienced the agony of wrestling, pre¬ 
vailing prayer, for the conversion of a soul, you may depend 
upon it, that soul, after it is converted, appears as dear as a 
child is to the mother who has brought it .forth with pain. He 
has agonized for it, and received it in answer to prayer, and 
can present it betore the Lord Jesus Christ, saying, “Here, 
Lord, am I, and the children thou hast given me.” 



PREVAILING PRAYER. 


01 


7. Another reason why God requires this sort pf prayer is, 
that it is the only way in which the church can be properly 
prepared to receive great blessings without being injured by 
them. When the church is thus prostrated in the dust before 
God, and is in the depth of agony in prayer, the blessing does 
them good. While at the same time, if they had received the 
blessing without this deep prostration of soul, it would have 
pufted them up with pride. But as it is, it increases their holi¬ 
ness, their love, their humility. 

I V. l am to show that such prayer as I have described will 
avail much. But time fails me to go into a particular detail of 
the evidence which I intended to bring forward under this head. 

Elijah the. prophet mourned over the declensions of the house 
of Israel, and when he saw that no other means were likely to 
be effectual, to prevent a perpetual going away into idolatry, 
he prayed that the judgments of God might come upon 
the guilty nation. He prayed that it might not rain, and God 
shut up the heavens for three years and six months, till the 
people were driven to the last extremity. And when he saw 
that it was time to relent, what does he do ? See him go up to th^ 
mountain and bow down in prayer. He wished to be alone; 
and he told his servant to go seven times, while he was agoni¬ 
zing in prayer. _ The last time, the servant told him there was 
a little cloud appeared, like a man’s hand, and he instantly arose 
from his knees—the blessing was obtained. The time had come 
for the calamity to be turned back. “ Ah, but,” you say, “ Elijah 
was a prophet.” Now don’t make this objection. They made it 
in the apostle’s days, and what does the apostle say? Why he 
brought forward this very instance, and the fact that Elijah was 
a man of like passions with ourselves, as a case of prevailing 
prayer, and insisted that they should pray so too. 

John Knox was a man famous for his power in prayer, so 
that bloody Queen Mary used to say she feared his prayers 
more than all the armies of Europe. And events showed that 
she had reason to do it. He used to be in such an agony for 
the deliverance of his country that he could not sleep. He had 
a place in his garden where he used to go to pray. One night 
he and several friends were praying together, andtis they prayed, 
Knox spoke and said that deliverance had come. He could not 
tell, what had happened, but he felt that something had taken 
place, for God had heard their prayers. What )vas' it ? Why 
the next news they had was, that Mary was dead! 

Take a fact which was related, in my hearing, by a minis ler. 
He said, that in a certain town there had been no revival for 

6 


62 


PREVAILING PRAYER. 


many years; the church was nearly run out, the youth wer® 
all unconverted, and desolation reigned unbroken. There 
lived in a retired part of the town, an aged man, a blacksmith 
by trade, and of so stammering a tongue, that it was painful to 
hear him speak. On one Friday, as .he was at work in his 
shop, alone, his mind became greatly exercised about the state 
of the church, and of the impenitent. His agony became so 
great, that he was induced to lay by his work, lock the shop 
door, and spend the afternoon in prayer. 

He prevailed, and on the Sabbath called on the minister, and 
desired him to appoint a conference meeting. After some 
hesitation, the minister, consented, observing, however, that he 
feared but few would attend. He appointed it the same evening, 
at a large private house. When evening came, more assem¬ 
bled than could be accommodated in the house. All was silent 
for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears, and said, if any 
one could pray, he begged him to pray for him. Another fol¬ 
lowed, and another, and still another, until it was found that 
persons from every quarter of the town were under deep con¬ 
viction. And- what was remarkable was, that they all dated 
their conviction at the hour when the old man was praying in 
his shop. A powerful revival followed. Thus this old stam¬ 
mering man prevailed, and, as a prince, had power with God. 
I could name multitudes of similar cases, but, for want of time, 
must conclude with a few. 

REMARKS. 

1. A great deal of prayer is lost, and many people never pre¬ 
vail in prayer, because, when they have desires for particular 
blessings, they do not follow them up. They may have had 
desires, benevolent and pure, which were excited by the Spirit 
of God; and when they have them, they should persevere in 
prayer, for if they turn off their attention to other objects, they 
will quench the Spirit. We tell sinners not to turn off their 
minds from the one object, but to keep their attention fixed 
there, till they are saved. When you find these holy desires in 
your minds, take care of two things: 

(1.) Don’t quench the Spirit. 

(2.) Don’t be diverted to other objects. 

Follow the leadings of the Spirit, till you have offered that 
effectual fervent prayer that availed! much. 

2. Without the spirit of prayer, ministers will do but little 
good. A minister need not expect much success, unless he 
crays for it. Sometimes others may have the spirit of prayer, 




PREVAILING PRAYER- 


63 


and obtain a blessing on his labors. Generally, however, those 
preachers are the most successful who have the most of a spirit 
of prayer themselves. 

3. Not only must ministers have the spirit of prayer, but it 
is necessary that the church should unite in offering that effec¬ 
tual fervent prayer which can prevail with God. You need 
not expect a blessing, unless you ask for it. “ For all these 
things will I be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it.” 

Now, my brethren, I have only to ask you, in regard to 
what I have preached to-night, “ Will you do it?” Have you 
done what I preached to you last Friday evening ? Have you 
gone over with your sins, and confessed them, and got them all 
out of the way? Can you pray now? And will you join and 
offer prevailing prayer, that the Spirit of God may come down 
her ^ ? 





LECTURE V. 

THE PRAYER OF FAITH, 

Text.—“ Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire when ye 
pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”— Mask xi. 24. 

These words have been by some supposed to refer exclu¬ 
sively to the faith of miracles. But there is not the least evi¬ 
dence of this. That the text was not designed by our Savior 
to refer exclusively to the faith of miracles, is proved by the 
connection in which it stands. If you read the chapter, you 
will see that Christ and his apostles were at this time very much 
engaged in their work, and very prayerful; and as they re¬ 
turned from their place of retirement in the morning, faint and 
hungry, they saw a fig-tree at a little distance. It looked very 
beautiful, and doubtless gave signs as if there was fruit on it; 
but when they came nigh, they found nothing on it but leaves. 
And Jesus said, “ No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. 

“ And in the morning, as they passed- by, they saw the fig- 
tree dried up from the roots. 

“And Peter, calling to remembrance, saithunto him, Muster, 
behold the fig-tree which thou cyrsedst is withered away. 

“ And Jesus answering, saith unto them, have faith in God. 

“ For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto 
this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; 
and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those 
things w T hich he saith shall come to pass; he shall have what¬ 
soever he saith.” 

Then follow the words of the text: 

“ Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire 
when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have 
them.” 

Our Savior was desirous of giving his disciples instructions 
respecting the nature and power of prayer, and the necessity of 
strong faith in God. He therefore stated a very strong case, a 
miracle—one so great as the removal of a mountain into the 
sea. And he tells them, that if they exercise a proper faith in 
God, they might do such things. But his remarks are not to 
be limited to faith merely in regard to working miracles, for 
he goes on to say, 

“ And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught 




THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


65 


against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may 
forgive you your trespasses. 

“ But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is 
in heaven forgive you your trespasses.” 

Does that relate to miracles ? When you pray, you must 
forgive. Is that required only when a man wishes to work a 
miracle? There are many other promises in the Bible nearly 
related to this, and speaking nearly the same language, which 
have been all disposed of in this short-hand way, as referring 
to the faith employed in miracles. Just as if the faith of mi¬ 
racles was something different from faith in God ! 

In my last lecture, I dwelt upon the subject of “ prevailing 
prayerand you will recollect that I passed over the subject 
of faith in prayer very briefly, because I wished to reserve it 
for a separate discussion. The subject to-night is, 

THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 

I propose, 

I. To show that faith is an indispensable condition of pre¬ 
vailing prayer. « 

II. Show what it is that we are to believe when we pray. 

III. Show when we are bound to exercise this faith, or to 
believe that we shall receive the thing that we ask for. 

IV. That this kind of faith' in prayer always does obtain the 
blessing sought. 

V. Explain how we are to come into the state of mind, in 
which we can exercise such faith. 

VI. Answer several objections, which are sometimes alleged 
against these views of prayer. 

I. That faith is an indispensable condition of prevailing 
prayer, will not be seriously doubted. There is such a thing 
as offering benevolent desires, which are acceptable to God as 
such, that do not include the exercise of faith in regard to the 
actual reception of those blessings. But such desires are not 
prevailing prayer, the prayer of faith. God may see fit to grant 
the things desired, as an act of kindness and love, but ii would 
not be properly in answer to prayer. I am speaking now of 
the kind of faith that insures the’blessing. Do not.understand 
me as saying that there is nothing in prayer that is acceptable 
to God, or that even obtains the blessing sometimes, without this 
kind of faith. But I am speaking of the faith which secures 
the very blessing it seeks. To prove that faith is indispensa¬ 
ble to prevailing prayer, it is only necessary to repeat what 
the apostle James expressly tells us: “If any of you lack 

6 # 


66 


THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men libe¬ 
rally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.— 
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that 
wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and 
tossed.” 

II. We are to inquire what we are to believe when we'pray. 

1. We are to believe in the existence of God—“ He that 
cometh to God must believe that he is”—and in his willingness 
to answer prayer—“ that he is, and that he is the rewarder of 
them that diligently seek him.” There are many who believe 
in the existence of God, and do not believe in the efficacy of 
prayer. They profess to believe in God, but deny the necessity 
or influence of prayer. 

2. We are to believe that ice shall receive —something— 
what? Not something, or any thing, as it happens, but some 
particular thing we ask for. We are not to think that God is 
such a being, that if we ask a fish, he will give us a serpent, or 
if we ask bread, he will give us a stone. But he says, “ What 
things soever ye desire , when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them , and ye shall have them.” With respect to the faith 
of miracles, it is plain that they were bound to believe they 
should receive just what they asked for—that the very thing 
itself should come to pass. That is what they were to believe. 
Now what ought men to believe in regard to other blessings ? 
Is it a mere loose idea, that if a man prays for a specific bless¬ 
ing, God will by some mysterious sovereignty give something 
or other to him, or something to somebody else, somewhere ?— 
When a man prays for his children’s conversion, is he to be¬ 
lieve that either his children will be converted, or somebody’s 
else children, and it is altogether uncertain which ? All this is 
utter nonsense, and highly dishonorable to God. No, we are 
to believe that we shall receive the very things, that we ask for. 

III. When are we bound to make this prayer ? When are we 
bound to believe that we shall have the very things we pray 
for ? I answer, When we have evidence of it. Faith must 
always have evidence. A,man cannot believe a thing, unless he 
sees something which he supposes to be evidence. He is un¬ 
der no obligation to believe, and has no right to believe, a 
thing will be done, unless he has evidence. It is the height of 
fanaticism to believe without evidence. The kinds of evidence 
a man may have are the following : 

1. Suppose that God has especially promised the thing. As 
for instance, God says he is more ready to give his Holy Spirit 
to them that ask him, than parents are to give bread to their 


THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


67 


children. Here we are bound to believe that we shall receive 
it when we pray for it. You have no right to put in an if 
and say, “ Lord, if it be thy will , give us thy Holy Spirit.” 
This is to insult God. To put an */into God’s promise, where 
God has put none, is tantamount to charging God with being 
insincere. It is like saying, “ O God, if thou art in earnest in 
making these promises, grant us the blessing we pray for.”. 

I heard of a case where a young convert was the means of 
teaching a minister a solemn truth on the subject of prayer. 
She was from a very wicked family, and went to live with a 
minister. While there, she was hopefully converted, and ap¬ 
peared well. One day she came to the minister’s study, while 
he was in it—a thing she was not in the habit of doing; and 
he thought there must be something the matter. So he asked 
her to sit down, and kindly inquired into the state of her 
religious feelings; she said, she was distressed at the man¬ 
ner in which the old church members prayed for the Spirit. 
They would pray for the Holy Spirit to come, and would seem 
to be very much in earnest; and plead the promises of God, and 
then say. “ O Lord, if it be thy will , grant us these blessings 
for Christ’s sake.” She thought that saying, “if it be thy 
will,” when God has expressly promised it, was questioning 
whether God was .sincere in his promises. The minister tried 
to reason her out of it, and of course he succeeded in confound¬ 
ing her. But she was distressed and filled with grief, and said, 
“ I can’t argue the point with you, sir, but it is impressed on my 
mind that it is wrong, and dishonoring God.”—And she went 
away w'eeping with anguish. The minister saw she was not 
satisfied, and it led him to look at the matter again, and finally 
he saw that it was putting in an if where God had put none, 
and where he had revealed his will expressly, and that it was 
an insult to God. And he went and told his church they were 
bound to believe that God was in earnest when he made them 
a promise. And the spirit of prayer came down upon that 
church, and a most powerful revival followed. 

2. Where there is a general promise in the Scriptures 
which you may reasonably apply to the particular case before 
you. If its real meaning includes^ the particular thing for 
which you pray, or if you can reasonably apply the principle 
of the promise to the case,, there you have evidence. For in¬ 
stance, suppose it is a time when wickedness prevails greatly, 
and you are led to pray for God’s interference. What promise 
have you ? Why, this one: “ When the enemy shall come in 
like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against 


68 


THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


him.” Here you see is a general promise, laying down a prin¬ 
ciple of God’s administration, which you may apply to the case 
before you, as a warrant for exercising faith in prayer. And 
if the case comes up, to inquire as to the time in which God 
will grant blessings in answer to prayer, you have this promise: 
“ While they are yet speaking, I will" hear.” 

There is a vast amount of general promises and principles 
laid down in the Bible, which Christians might make use of, 
if they would only think. Whenever you are in circumstances 
to which the promises or principles apply, there you are to use 
them. A parent finds this promise: “ The mercy of the Lord 
is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and 
his righteousness unto children’s children, to such as keep his 
covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do 
them.” Now, here is a promise made to those that possess a 
certain character. If any parent is conscious that this is his 
character, he has a rightful ground to apply it to himself and 
his family. If you have this character, you are bound to make 
use of this promise in prayer, and believe it, even to your 
children’s children. 

If I had time to-night, I could go from one end of the Bible 
to the other, and produce an astonishing variety of texts that 
are applicable as promises; enough to prove, that in whatever 
circumstances a child of God may be placed, God has provided 
in the Bible some promise, either general or particular, w T hich 
he can apply, that is precisely suited to his case. Many of 
God’s promises are very broad on purpose to cover much 
ground. What can be broader than the promise in the text: 
“ Whatsoever things ye desire when ye pray ?” What praying 
Christian is there who has not been surprised at the length, 
and breadth, and fullness, of the promises of God, when the 
Spirit has applied them to his heart'? Who that lives a life of 
prayer, has not wondered at his own blindness, in not having 
before seen and felt the extent of meaning and richness of those 
promises, when viewed under the light of the Spirit of God ? 
At such times he has been astonished at his own ignorance, 
and found the Spirit applying the promises and declarations of 
the Bible in a sense in which he had never dreamed of their 
being applicable before. The mannfer in which the apostles 
applied the promises, and prophecies, and declarations of the 
Old Testament, places in a strong light the breadth of meaning, 
and fullness, and richness of the word of God. He that walks 
in the light of God’s countenance, and is filled with the Spirit 
of God as he ought to be, will often make an appropriation of 



THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


69 


promises to himself, and an application of them to his own cir¬ 
cumstances, and the circumstances of those for whom he prays, 
that a blind professor of religion would never dream of 

3. Where there is any prophetic declaration , that the thing 
prayed for is agreeable to the will of God. When it is plain 
from prophecy that the event is certainly to come, you are 
bound to believe it, and to make it the ground for your special 
faith in prayer. If the time is not specified in the Bible, and 
there is no evidence from other sources, you are not bound to 
believe that it shall take place now, or immediately. But if the 
time is specified, or if the time may be learned from the study 
of the prophecies, and it appears to have arrived, then Christians 
are under obligation to understand* and apply it, by offering the 
prayer of faith. For instance, take the case of Daniel, in re¬ 
gard to the return of the Jews from captivity. What does he 
say ? “I Daniel understood by books,the number of the years 
whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, 
that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of 
Jerusalem.” Here he learned from books, that is, he studied 
his Bible, and in that way understood that the length of the 
captivity was to be seventy years. What does he do then? 
Does he sit down upon the promise, and say, “ God has pledged 
himself to put an end to the captivity in seventy years, and the 
time has expired, and there i§ no need of doing any thing?” 
O no; he says, “ And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek 
by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and 
ashes.” He set himself at once to pray that the thing might 
be accomplished. He prayed in faith. But what was he to 
believe? What he had .learned from prophecy. There are 
many prophecies yet unfulfilled, in the Bible, which Christians 
are bound to understand, as far as they are capable of under¬ 
standing them, and then make them the basis of believing 
prayer. Do not think, as some seem to, that because a thing is 
foretold in prophecy it is not necessary to pray for it, or that it 
will come whether Christians pray for it or not. There is no 
truth in this. God says, in regard to this very class of events, 
which are revealed in prophecy, “ Nevertheless, for all these 
thingsavill I be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” 

4. When tke signs of the times, or the providence of God, 
indicate that a particular blessing is about to be bestowed, we 
are bound to'believe it. The Lord Jesus Christ blamed the 
Jews,* and called them hypocrites, because they did not under¬ 
stand the indications of Providence. They could understand 

the signs of the weather, and see when it was about to rain, 

< ° 


70 


THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


and when it would be fair weather; but they could not see, 
from the signs of the times, that the time had come for the 
Messiah to appear, and build up the house of God. There are 
many professors of religion, who are always stumbling and 
hanging back, whenever any thing is proposed to be done. 
They always say, The time has not come—the time has not 
come; when there are others who pay attention to the signs of 
the times, and who have spiritual discernment to understand 
them. These pray in faith for the blessing, and it comes. 

5. When the Spirit of God is upon you , and excites strong 
desires for any.blessing, you are bound to pray for it in faith. 
You are bound to infer, from-the fact that you find yourself 
drawn to desire such a thing while in the exercise of such holy 
affections as the Spirit of God produces, that these desires are 
the work of the Spirit. People are not apt to desire with the 
right kind of desires, unless they are excited by the Spirit of 
God. The apostle refers to these desires, excited by the Spirit, 
in his epistle to the Romans, where he says—“ Likewise the 
Spirit also helpeth our infirmities ) for we know not what we 
should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh in¬ 
tercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 
And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of 
the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints, accord¬ 
ing to the will of God.” Here, then, if you find yourself 
strongly drawn to desire a blessing, you are to understand it as 
an intimation that God is willing to bestow that particular 
blessing, and so you are bound to believe it. God does not 
trifle with his children. He does not go and excite in them a 
desire for one blessing, to turn them off with something else. 
But he excites the very desires he is willing to gratify. And 
when they feel such desires, they are bound to follow them out 
till they get the blessing. 

IY. I will proceed to show that this kind of faith always ob¬ 
tains the object. The text is plain here, to show that you shall 
receive the very thing prayed for. It does not say, “ Believe 
that ye shall receive, and ye shall either have that or something 
else equivalent to it.” To prove that this faith obtains the very 
blessing a deed, I observe, 

1. Tha. otherwise we could never know -whether our pray¬ 
ers were answered. And we might continue praying and 
praying, long after the prayer was answered by some other 
blessing equivalent to the one we ask for. 

2. If we are not bound to expect the very thing we ask for, 
it must be that the Spirit of God deceives us. Why should he 




THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


71 


excite us to desire a certain blessing, when he means to grant 
something else? 

3. What is the meaning of this passage, “If a man ask 
bread, will he give him a stone?” Does not our Savior re¬ 
buke the idea that prayer may be answered by giving some¬ 
thing else? What encouragement have we to pray for any 
thing in particular, if we are to ask for one thing and receive 
another ? Suppose a Christian should pray for a revival here 
—he would be answered by a revival in China. Or he might 
pray for a revival, and God would send the cholera, or an 
earthquake. All the history of the church shows that when 
God answers prayer, he gives his people the very thing for 
which their prayers are offered. God confers other blessings, 
on both saints and sinners, which they do not pray for at all. 
He sends his rain both upon the just and the unjust. But 
when he answers prayer, it is by doing what they ask him to 
do. To be sure, he often more than answers prayer. He 
grants them not only what they ask, but often connects other 
blessings with it. 

4. Perhaps you may feel a difficulty here about the prayers 
of Jesus Christ. People may often, ask, “ Did not he pray in the 
garden for the cup to be removed, and was his prayer answer¬ 
ed ?” I answer that this is no difficult}?- at all, for the prayer was 
answered. The cup he prayed to be delivered from was re¬ 
moved. This is what the apostle refers to, when he says—“ Who 
in the days of his flesh, whqn he had offered up prayers and 
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was 
able to save him from death, was heard in that he feared.” Now 
I ask, On what occasion was he saved from death, if not on this? 
Was it the death of the cross he prayed to be delivered from? 
Not at all. But the case was this. A short time before he was 
betrayed, we hear him saying to his disciples, “ My soul is ex¬ 
ceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.” Anguish of mind came 
rolling in upon him, till he was just ready to die, ar\d he went 
out intq the garden to pray, and told his disciples to watch, and 
then he went by himself and prayedO my Father,” said he, 
“if it be possible, let this cup pass frorti me; nevertheless not 
as 1 will, but as thou wilt.” In his agony he rose from his knees, 
and walked the garden, till he came where his disciples'were, and 
there he saw them fast .asleep. He awaked them and said, “ What, 
could ye not watch with me one hour ?” And then he went again, 
for he was in such distress that he could not stand still, and again 
he poured out his soul. And the third time he goes away and 
prays, “Father, if thou be willing, remove th's cup from me; 


72 


THE PRAYER OF FAITn. 


nevertheless, not my will, but thine he done.” And now the 
third time of praying, there appeared an angel unto him from 
heaven, strengthening him. And his mind became composed, 
and calm, and the cup was gone. Till then, he had been in such 
an agony that his sweat was as it were great drops of blood, but 
now it was all over. 

Some have supposed that he was praying against the cross, 
and begging to be delivered from dying on the cross ! Did Christ 
ever shrink from the cross ? Never. He came into the world 
on purpose to die on the cross, and he never shrunk from it. 
But he was afraid he should die in the garden before he came 
to the cross. The burden on his soul was so great, and pro¬ 
duced such an agony, that he felt as if he was on the point of 
dying. His soul was sorrowful even-unto death. But after the 
angel appeared unto him, we hear no more of his agony of soul. 
He had prayed for relief from that cup, and his prayer was 
answered. He became calm, and had no more mental suffering 
till just as he expired. This case, therefore, is no exception. 
He received the very thing for which he asked, as he says, “ I 
knew thou always hearest me.” 

But there is another case often brought up, where the apostle 
Paul prayed against the thorn in the flesh. He says, “ I be¬ 
sought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” And God 
answered him, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” It is the opi¬ 
nion of Dr. Clarke and others, that Paul’s prayer was answerea 
in the very thing for which he prayed. That “the thorn in the 
flesh, the messenger of Satan,” of which he speaks, was a false 
apostle who had distracted and perverted the church at Co¬ 
rinth. That Paul prayed against his influence, and the Lord 
answered him by assuring him, “ My grace is sufficient for thee.” 
Who does not know that it was, and that Paul’s influence ulti¬ 
mately triumphed? 

But admitting that Paul’s prayer was not answered by grant¬ 
ing the particular thing for which he prayed, in order to make 
out this case as an exception to the prayer of faith, they are 
obliged to assume the very thing to be proved; and that 
is, that the apostle prayed in faith. There is ho reason to 
suppose that Paul would always pray in faith, any more than 
that any other Christian does. The very manner in which God 
answered him shows that it was not in faith. He virtually 
tells him, “That thorn is necessary for your sanctification, 
and to keep you from being exalted above measure. I sent it 
upon you in love, and in faithfulness, and you have no business 
to pray that I sLould take it away.—LET IT ALONE” 



THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


73 


There is not only no evidence that he prayed in faith, but a 
• strong presumption that he did not. From the history it is evi¬ 
dent that he had nothing on which to repose faith. There was 
no express promise, no general promise, that could be applica¬ 
ble, no providence of God, no prophecy, no teaching of the 
Spirit that God would remove this thorn ; but the presumption 
was that God would not remove it. He had given it to him for 
a particular purpose. His prayer appears to have been selfish, 
prajdng against a mere personal inconvenience. This was not 
any personal suffering that retarded his usefulness, but on the 
contrary it was given him to increase his usefulness by keep¬ 
ing him humble; and because on some account he found it in¬ 
convenient and mortifying?, he set himself to pray out of his 
own heart, evidently without being led to it by the Spirit of 
God. But did Paul pray in faith without the Spirit of God, 
any more than any other man ? And will any one undertake 
to say that the Spirit of God led him to pray that this might be 
removed, when God himself had given it for a particular pur¬ 
pose, which purpose could not be answered only as the thorn 
continued with him? 

Why then is this made an exception to the general rule laid 
down in the text, that a man shall receive whatsoever he asks 
in faith ? I was once amazed and grieved at a public examina¬ 
tion at a Theological Seminary, to hear them darken counsel 
by words without knowledge on this subject. This case of 
Taul, and that of Christ just adverted to, were both of them 
cited as instances to prove to their students that the prayer of 
faith would not be answered in the particular thing for which 
they prayed. Now to teach such sentiments as these in or out 
of a Theological Seminary, is to trifle with the word of God, 
and to break the power of the Christian ministry. Has it come 
to this, that our grave doctors in our seminaries, are employed 
to instruct Zion’s watchmen, to believe and teach that it is not 
to be expected that the prayer of faith is to be answered in 
granting the object for which we pray? Oh, tell it not in Gath, 
nor let the sound reach Askalon. What is to become of the 
church while such are the views of its gravest and most influ¬ 
ential ministers ? I would not be unkind nor censorious, but 
as one of the ministers of Jesus Christ, I feel bound to bear 
testimony against such a perversion of the word of God. 

5. It is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain the bless¬ 
ing, from the fact that our faith rests on evidence that to grant 
that thing is the will of God. Not evidence that something 
else will be granted, but that this particular thing will be. But 


74 


THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


how, then, can we have evidence that this thing will be granted, 
if, another thing is to be granted? People often receive more 
than they pray for. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and God 
granted him riches and honor in addition. So a wife some¬ 
times prays for the conversion of her husband, and if she offers the 
prayer, of faith, God may not only grant that blessing, but convert 
her child, and her whole family. Blessings sometimes seem to 
hang together, so that if a Christian gains one he gets them all. 

V. I am to show how we are to come into this state of mind,' 
in which we can offer such prayer. People sometimes ask, 

“ Ho>v shall I offer such prayer? Shall Isay, Now I will 
pray in faith for such and such blessings ?” No, the human 
mind is not moved in this way. Y6u might just as well say, 

“ Now I will call up a spirit from the bottomless pit.” I answer, 

1. You must first obtain evidence that God will bestow the 
blessing. How did Daniel make out to offer the prayer of 
faith ? He searched the Scriptures. Now, you need not let 
your Bible lie on a shelf, and expect God to reveal his promises 
to you. Search the Scriptures, and see where you can get i 
either a general or special promise, or a prophecy, on which 
you can plant your feet w r hen you pray. Go through the Bi¬ 
ble, and you will find it full of such things—precious promises, 
which you may plead in faith. You never need to want for 
objects of prayer, if you will do as Daniel did. Persons are 
staggered on this subject, because they never make a proper 
use of the Bible. 

A curious case occurred in one of the towns in the western 
part of this state. There was a revival there. A certain cler¬ 
gyman came to visit the place, and heard a great deal said about 
the Prayer of Faith. He was staggered at what they said, for 
he had never regarded the subject in the light they did. He 
inquired about it of the minister that was laboring there. The 
minister requested him, in a kind spirit, to go home, and take 
his Testament, look out the passages that refer to prayer, and 
go round to hie most praying people, and ask them how they 
understood these passages. He said he would do it, for though 
these views were new to him, he was willing to learn. He did 
it, and vyent to his praying men and women, and read the pas-,., j 
sages without note or comment, and asked what they thbught. 

He found their plain common sense had led them to understand 
these passages, and to believe that they mean just as they say. 
This affected him, and then the fact of his going round and 
presenting the promises before their minds awakened the spirit 
of prayer in them, and a revival followed. 



THE PRAYER OF FA1TII 


75 


I could name many individuals, who have set themselves to 
examine the Bible on this subject, and before they got half 
through with it, have been fifled with the spirit of prayer. 
They found that God meant by his promises just what a plain, 
common sense man would understand them to mean. I advise 
you to try it. You have Bibles ; look .them over, and when¬ 
ever you find a promise that you can use, fasten it in your 
mind, before you go on; and I venture to predict you will not 
get through the book without finding out that God’s promises 
mean just what they say. 

2. Cherish the good desires you have. Christians very 
often lose their good desires, by not attending to this; and then 
their prayers are mere words, without any desire or earnestness 
at all. The least longing of desire must be cherished. If 
your body was likely to freeze, and you had even the least 
spark of fire, how you would cherish it! So if you have the 
least desire for a blessing, let it be ever so small, don’t trifle it 
away. Don’t grieve the Spirit. Don’t be diverted. Don’t lose 
good desires, by levity, by censoriousness, by wurldly-minded- 
ness. Watch, and pray, and follow it up, or you will never 
pray the prayer of faith. 

2. Entire consecration to God is indispensable to the prayer 
of faith . You must live a holy life, and consecrate all to 
God—your time, talents, influence—all you have, and all you 
are, to be his entirely. Read the lives of pious men, and you 
will be struck with this fact: that they used to set apart times 
to renew their covenant, and dedicate themselves anew to God, 
and whenever they have done so, a blessing has always follow¬ 
ed immediately. If I had Edw r ards here to-night, I could read 
passages showing how it was in his days. 

4. You must persevere. You are not to pray for a thing 
once, and then cease, and call that the prayer of faith. Look 
at Daniel. He prayed twenty-one days, and did not cease till 
he had obtained the blessing. He set his heart and his face 
unto the Lord, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fast¬ 
ing, and sackcloth, and ashes ; and he held on three weeks, and 
then the answer came,. And why did not it come before"? God 
&ent an Archangel tot bear the message, but the devil hindered 
him all this time. See what Christ says, in the parable of the 
unjust judge, and the parable of the loaves. What does he 
teach us by them? Why, that God will grant answers to 
prayer when it is importunate. “ Shall not God avenge his 
own elect, who cry day and night unto him V 

5. If you would pray in faith, be sure to walk every day with 


76 


THE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


God. If you do, he will tell you what to pray for. Be filled 
with his Spirit, and he will give you objects enough to pray 
for. He will give you as much of the spirit of prayer as you 
have strength of body to bear. 

Said a good man to me, “ O, I am dying for the want of 
strength to pray. My body is crushed, the world is on me, 
and how can I forbear praying ?” I have known that man go 
to bed absolutely sick, for weakness and faintness under the 
pressure. And I have known him pray as if he would do vio¬ 
lence to heaven, and then seen the blessing come as plainly in 
answer to his prayer, as if it was revealed, so that no person 
would doubt it, any more than if God had spoken from heaven. 
Shall I tell you how he died ? He prayed more and more, and 
he used to take the map of the world before him, and pray, and 
look over the different countries, and pray for them, till he ab¬ 
solutely expired in his room, praying. Blessed man ! He 
was the reproach of the ungodly, and of carnal, unbelieving 
professors, but he was the favorite of heaven, and a prevailing 
prince in prayer. 

VI. I will refer to some objections, which are brought for¬ 
ward, against this doctrine. 

1. “ It leads to fanaticism, and amounts to a new revelation.” 
Why should this be a stumbling block ? They must have ev¬ 
idence to believe, before they can offer the prayer of faith. 
And if God gives other evidence besides the senses, where is 
the objection ? True, there is a sense in which this is a new rev¬ 
elation ; it is making known a thing by his Spirit. But it is 
the very revelation which God has promised to give. It is just the 
one we are to expect, if the Bible is true; that when we know 
not what we ought to pray for, according to the will of God, 
his Spirit helps our infirmities, and teaches us the very thing to 
pray for. Shall we deny the teaching of the Spirit ? 

2. It is often asked, “ Is it our duty to pray the prayer of faith 
for the salvation of all men ?” I answer, No, for that is not a 
thing according to the will of God. It is directly contrary to 
his revealed will. We havemo evidence that all will be saved. 
We should feel benevolently to all, and in itself considered, 
desire their salvation. But God has revealed it to us that many 
of the human race shall be damned. And it cannot be a duty 
to believe that they shall all be saved, in the face of a revelation 
to the contrary. 

3. But, some, “ If we were to offer this prayer for all 
men, would not all men be saved?” I answer, Yes, and so they 
would be saved, if they would all repent. But they will not. 




TIIE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


77 


Neither will Christians offer the prayer of faith for all, because 
there is no evidence on which to ground a belief that God in¬ 
tends to save all men. 

4. But you ask, “For whom are we to offer this prayer? 
We want to know in what cases, for what persons, and places, 
and at what times, &c. we are to make the prayer of faith.” I 
answer, as I have already answered, When you have evidence, 
from promises, or prophecies, or providences, or the leadings of 
the Spirit, that God will do the things you pray for. 

5. “ How is it that so many prayers of pious parents for their 
children are not answered ? Did you not say there was a pro¬ 
mise which pious parents may apply to their children ? Why 
is it then, that so many pious praying parents have had im¬ 
penitent children, that died in their sins?” Granted that it is 
so, what does it prove? Let God be true, but every man a liar. 
Which shall we believe, that God’s promise has failed, or that 
these parents did not do their duty ? Perhaps they did not believe 
the promise, or did not believe there was any such thing as the 
prayer of faith. Wherever you find a professor that does not 
believe in any such prayer, you find, as a general thing, that 
he has children and domestics yet in their sins. And no 
wonder, unless they are converted in answer to the prayers of 
somebody else. 

6. “ Will not these views lead to fanaticism ? Will not many 
people think they are offering the prayer of faith when they are 
not?” That is the same objection that the Unitarians make 
against the doctrine of regeneration—that many people think 
they have been born again when they have not. It is an argu¬ 
ment against nil spiritual religion whatever. Some think they 
have it, when they have not, and are fanatics. But there are 
those who know what the prayer of faith is, just as there are 
those who know what spiritual experience is, though it may 
stumble cold-hearted professors w r ho know it not. Even minis¬ 
ters often lay themselves open to the rebuke which Christ gave 
to Nicodemus: “ Art thou a master in Israel, and knowest not 
these things?” 


REMARKS. 

1. Persons who have not known by experience what this is, 
have great reason to doubt their piety. This is by no means 
uncharitable. Let them examine themselves. It is to be 
feared that they understand prayer as Nicodemus did the new 
birth. They have not walked with God, and you cannot de¬ 
scribe it to them, any more than you can describe a beautiful 


78 


THE PRAYER OF FAITn. 


painting to a blind man, who cannot see colors. Many profes¬ 
sors can understand about the prayer of faith, just as much as 
a blind man does of colors. 

2. There is reason to believe millions are in hell because 
professors have not offered the prayer of faith. When they had 
promises under their eye, they have not had faith enough to 
use them. Thus parents let their children, and even baptized 
children, go down to hell, because they would not believe the 
promises of God. Doubtless many women’s husbands have 
gone to hell, when they might have prevailed with God in 
prayer, and saved them. The signs of the times, and the indi¬ 
cations of Providence, were favorable, perhaps, and the Spirit 
of God prompted desires for their salvation, and they had evi¬ 
dence enough to believe that God was ready to grant a blessing, 
and if they had only prayed in faith, God would have granted 
it; but God turned it away, because they would not discern the 
signs of the times. 

3. You say, “ This leaves the church under a great load of 
guilt.” True, it does so; and no doubt multitudes will stand 
up before God, covered all over with the blood of souls that 
have been lost through their want of faith. The promises of 
God, accumulated in their Bibles, will stare them in the face, 
and weigh them down to hell. 

4. Many professors of religion live so far from God, that to 
talk to them about the prayer of faith, is all unintelligible. Very 
often the greatest offence possible to them, is to preach about 
this kind of prayer. 

5. I want to ask the professors who are here a few questions. 
Do you know what it is to pray in faith ? Did you ever pray in 
this way? Have you ever prayed, till your mind was assured 
the blessing would come—till you felt that rest in God, that 
confidence, as perfect as if you saw God come down from heaven 
to give it to you? If not, you ought to examine your founda¬ 
tion. How can you live without praying in faith at all? How i 
do you live in view of your children, while you have no as¬ 
surance whatever that they will be converted? One would 
think you would go deranged. I knew a father at the west ; 
he was a good man, but he had erroneous views respecting the 
prayer of faith; and his whole family of children were grown 
up, and not one of them converted. At length his son sicken¬ 
ed, and seemed about to die. The father prayed, but the son 
grew worse, and seemed sinking into the grave without hope. 
The father prayed, till his anguish was unutterable. He went 

at last and prayed—(there seemed no prospect of his son’s life)_ 




TIIE PRAYER OF FAITH. 


79 


but he poured out his soul as if he would not be denied, till at 
length he got an assurance that his son would not only live, 
but be converted; and not only this one, but his whole family, 
would be converted to God. He came into the house, and told 
his family his son would not die. They were astonished at 
him. “ I tell you,” says he, “ he won’t die. And no child of 
mine will ever die in his sins.” That man’s children were all 
converted years ago. 

What do you think of that ? Was that fanaticism ? If you 
believe so, it is because you know nothing about the matter. 
Do you pray so ? Do you live in such a manner that you can 
offer such prayer for your children ? I know that the chil¬ 
dren of professors may sometimes be converted in answer to 
the prayers of somebody else. But ought you to live so ? Dare 
you trust to the prayers of others, when God calls you to sus¬ 
tain this most important relation to your children ? 

Finally—See what combined effort is made to dispose of the 
Bible. The wicked are for throwing away the threatenings 
of the Bible, and the church the promises. And what is there 
left ? Between them, they leave the Bible a blank. I say it 
in love: What are our Bibles good for, if we do not lay hold 
on their precious promises, and use them as the ground of our 
faith when we pray for the blessing of God? You had better 
send your Bibles to the heathen, where they will do some good, 
if you are not going to believe and use them. I have no evi¬ 
dence that there is much of this prayer now in this church, or 
in this city. And what will become of it? What will be 
come of your children ? your neighbors ? the wicked ? 


LECTURE VI. 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 

Text.— Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities : for we know not 
what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh interces¬ 
sion for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the 
heartsknoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession 
for the saints, according to the will of God.— Romans viii. 26, 27. 

My last lecture but one, was on the subject of Effectual 
Prayer; in which I observed that one of the most important 
attributes of effectual or prevailing prayer is Faith. This was 
so extensive a subject that I reserved it for a separate discus¬ 
sion. And accordingly, I lectured last Friday evening on the 
subject of Faith in Prayer, or, as it is termed, the Prayer of 
Faith. It was my intention to discuss the Subject in a single 
lecture. But as I was under the necessity of condensing so 
much on some points, it occurred to me, and Was mentioned by 
others, that there might be some questions which people would 
ask, that ought to be answered more fully, especially as the subject 
is one on which there is so much darkness. One grand design 
in preaching, is, to exhibit the truth in such a way as to answer 
the questions which would naturally arise in the minds of those 
who read the Bible with attention, and who want to know what 
it means, so that they can put it in practice. In explaining the 
text, I propose to show, 

I. What Spirit is here spoken of, “The Spirit also helpeth 
our infirmities.” 

II. What that Spirit does for us. 

III. Why he does what the text declares him to do. 

IV. How he accomplishes it. 

V. The degree in which he influences the minds of those 
who are under his influence. 

VI. How his influences are to be distinguished from the in¬ 
fluences of evil spirits, or from the suggestions of our own 
minds. 

VII. How we are to obtain this agency of the Holy Spirit. 

VIII. Who have a right to expect to enjoy his influences in 
this matter—or for whom the Spirit does the things spoken of in 
the text. 

1. What Spirit is it, that is spoken of in the text? 

Some have supposed that the Spirit spoken of in the text 



SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


81 


means our own spirit—our own mind. But a little attention to 
the text will show plainly that this is nol the meaning. “ The 
Spirit helpeth our infirmities,” would then read, “ Our own 
spirit helpeth the infirmities of our own spirit,”—and “ Our own 
spirit likewise maketh intercession for our own spirit.” You 
see you can make no sense of it on that supposition. It is evi¬ 
dent from the manner in which the text is introduced, that the 
Spirit referred to is the Holy Ghost. “ For if ye live after the 
flesh, ye shall die: hut if ye through the Spirit do mortify the 
deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led 
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have 
not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have 
received the spirit of adoption,'whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
children of God.” And the text is plainly speaking of the same 
Spirit. 

II. What the Spirit does. 

Answer—He intercedes for the saints. “ He maketh inter¬ 
cession for us,” and “ helpeth our infirmities,” when “ we know 
not wfiat to pray for as we ought.” He helps Christians to 
pray according to the will of God, or for the things that God 
desires them to pray for. 

III. Why is the Holy Spirit thus employed? 

Because of our ignorance. Because we know not what we 
should pray for as we ought. We are so ignorant both of the 
will of God, revealed in the Bible, and of his unrevealed will, 
as we ought to learn it from his providence. Mankind are 
vastly ignorant both of the promisesnnd prophecies of the Bible, 
and blind to the providence of God. And they are still more 
in the dark about those points of which God has said nothing 
but by the leadings of his Spirit. You recollect that I named 
these four sources of evidence on which to ground faith in 
prayer—promises, prophecies, providences, and the Holy Spirit. 
When all other means fail of leading us to the knowledge of 
what we ought to pray for, the Spirit does it. 

IV. How does he make intercession for the saints ? In what 
mode does he operate, so as to help our infirmities ? 

Not by superseding the use of our faculties. It is not by 
praying for us, while we do nothing. He prays for us, by ex¬ 
citing our own faculties. Not that he immediately suggests to 
us words, or guides our language. But he enlightens our 
minds, and makes the truth take hold of our souls. He leads 
us to consider the state of the church, and the condition of sin¬ 
ners around us. The manner in which he brings the truth 


82 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


before the mind, and keeps it there till it produces its effect, we 
cannot tell. But we can know as much as this—that he leads 
us to a deep consideration of the state of things; and the result 
of this, the natural and philosophical result, is, deep feeling. 
When the Spirit brings the truth up before a man’s mind, there 
is only one way in which he can keep from deep feeling. 
That is, by turning away his thoughts, and leading his mind 
to think of other things. Sinners, when the Spirit of God 
brings the truth before them, must feel. They feel wrong, as 
long as they remain impenitent. So if a man is a Christian, 
and the Holy Spirit brings a subject into warm contact with his 
heart, it is just as impossible he should not feel, as it is that 
your hand should not feel if you put it into the fire. If the 
Spirit of God leads him to dwell on things calculated to excite 
warm and overpowering feelings, and he is not excited by them, 
it proves that he has no love for souls, nothing of the Spirit of 
Christ, and knows nothing about Christian experience.' 

2. The Spirit makes the Christian feel the value of souls, 
and the guilt and danger of sinners in their present condition. 
It is amazing how dark and stupid Christians often are about 
this. Even Christian parents let their children go right down 
to hell before their eyes, and scarcely seem to exercise a single 
feeling, or put forth an effort to save them. And why ? Be¬ 
cause they are so blind to what hell is, so unbelieving about 
the Bible, so ignorant of the precious promises which God has 
made to faithful parents. They grieve the Spirit of God away, 
and it is in vain to try to make them pray for their children, 
while the Spirit of God is away from them. 

3. He leads Christians to understand and apply the promises 
of Scripture. It is wonderful that in no age have Christians 
been able fully to apply the promises of Scripture to the events 
of life, as they go along. This is not because the promises 
themselves are obscure. The promises themselves are plain 
enough. But there has always been a wonderful disposition to 
overlook the Scriptures, as a source of light respecting the pass¬ 
ing events of life. How astonished the apostles were at Christ’s 
application of so many prophecies to himself! They seemed to 
be continually ready to exclaim, “ Astonishing! Can it be so ? 
We never understood it before.” Who, that has witnessed the 
manner in which the apostles, influenced and inspired by the 
Holy Ghost, applied passages of the Old Testament to gospel 
times, has not been amazed at the richness of meaning which 
they found in the Scriptures? So it has been with many a 
Christian; while deeply engaged in prayer, he has seen that 



SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


83 


passages of Scripture are appropriate which he never thought 
of before, as having any such application. 

I once knew an individual who was in great spiritual dark* 
ness. He had retired for prayer, resolved that he would not 
desist till he had found the Lord. He kneeled down and tried 
to pray. All was dark, and he could not pray. He rose from 
his knees, and stood a while, but he could not give it up, for he 
had promised that he would not let the sun go down before he 
had given himself to God. He knelt again, but it was all dark, 
and his heart was hard as before. He was nearly in despair, 
and said in agony, “ I have grieved the Spirit of God away, and 
there is no promise for me. I am shut out from the presence 
of God.” But his resolution was formed not to give over, and 
again he knelt down. He had said but a few words when this 
passage came into his mind as fresh as if he had just read it. 
It seemed as if he had just been reading'the words, “Ye shall 
seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all 
your heart.” Jer. xxix. 13. He saw that though this pro¬ 
mise was in the Old Testament, and was addressed to the 
Jews, it was still as applicable to him as to them. And it 
br<-ke his heart, like the hammer of the Lord, in a moment. 
A 1 d he prayed, and rose up, happy in God. Thus it often 
happens when professors of religion are praying for their chil¬ 
dren. Sometimes they pray, and are in darkness and doubt, 
feeling as if there was no foundation for faith, and no special 
promises for the children of believers. But while they are 
pleading, God has shown them the full meaning of some promi¬ 
ses, and their soul has rested on it as on the mighty arm of God. 
I once heard of a widow who was greatly exercised about her 
children, till this passage was brought powerfully to her mind: 
“Leave thy fatherless children with me, I will preserve them 
alive.” She saw it had an extended meaning, and she was 
enabled to lay hold on it, as it were, with her hands ; and then 
she prevailed in prayer, and her children were converted.— 
The Holy Spirit was sent into the world by the Savior, to 
guide his people, and instruct them, and bring things to their 
remembrance, as well as to convince the world of sin. 

4. The*Spirit leads Christians to desire and pray for things 
of which nothing is specifically said in the word of God. Take 
the case of an individual. That God is willing to save is a gen¬ 
eral truth. Sd it is a. general truth that he is willing to answer 
prayer. But how shall I know the will of God respecting that 
individual, whether I can pray in faith according to the will of 
God for the conversion and salvation of that individual, or not? 


84 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


Here the agency of the Spirit comes in, to lead the minds of 
God’s people to pray for those individuals, and at those times, 
when God is prepared to bless them. When we know not what 
to pray for, the Holy Spirit leads the mind to dwell on some 
object, to consider its situation, to realize its value, and to feel 
for it, and pray, and travail in birth, till the person is converted. 
This sort of experience I know is less common in cities, than it 
is in some parts of the country, because of the infinite number of 
things to divert the attention and grieve the Spirit in cities.— 

I have had much opportunity to know how it has been in some 
sections. I was acquainted with an individual who used to keep a 
list of persons that he was specially concerned for; and I have had 
the opportunity to know a multitude of persons for whom he be¬ 
came thus interested, who were immediately converted. I have j 
seen him pray for persons on his list, when he was literally in an | 
agony for them; and have sometimes known him call on some 
other person to help him pray for such a one. I have known his 
mind to fasten thus on an individual of hardened, abandoned char¬ 
acter, and who could not be reached in any ordinary way. In a 
town in the north part of this state, where there was a revival, there 
was a certain individual who was a most violent and outrageous , 
opposer. He kept a tavern, and used to delight in swearing at a 
desperate rate, whenever there were Christians within hearing, on j 
purpose to hurt their feelings. He was so bad, that one man said < 
he believed he should have to sell his place, or give it away, and 
move out of town, for he could not live near a man that swore so. 
This good man, that I was speaking of, was passing through the 
town, and heard of the case, and was very much grieved and 
distressed for the individual. He took him on his praying list. 
The case weighed on his mind, when he was asleep and when he 
was awake. He kept thinking about him, and praying for him 
for days. And the first we knew of it, this ungodly man came 
into a meeting, and got up and confessed his sins, and poured 
out his soul. His bar-room immediately became the place where 
they held prayer meetings. In this manner the Spirit of God 
leads individual Christians to pray for things which they would 
not pray for, unless they were led by the Spirit. And thus 
they pray for things according to the will of God. 

By some, this may be said to be a revelation from God. I do 
not doubt that great evil has been done by saying that this kind 
of influence amounts to a new revelation. And many people 
will be afraid of it if they hear it called a new revelation, so that 
they will not stop to inquire what it means, or whether the 
Scriptures teach it or not. They suppose it to be a complete 





SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


85 


answer to the idea. But the plain truth of the matter is, that 
the Spirit leads a man to pray. And if God leads a man to pray 
for an individual, the inference from the Bible is, that God 
designs to save that individual. If we find by comparing our 
state of mind with the Bible, that we are led by ike Spirit to 
pray for an individual, we have good evidence to believe that 
God is prepared to bless him. 

6- By givingto Christians a spiritual discernment respecting 
the movements and developments of Providence. Devoted, 
praying Christians often see these things so clearly, and look so 
far ahead, as greatly to stumble others. They sometimes almost 
seem to prophecy. No doubt persons may be deluded, and some¬ 
times are so, by leaning to their own understanding when they 
think they are led by the Spirit. But there is no doubt that a 
Christian may be made to see and discern clearly the signs of 
the times, so as to understand, by providence, what to expect, and 
thus to pray for it in faith. Thus they are often led to expect a 
revival, and to pray for it in faith, when nobody else can seethe 
least signs of it. 

There was a woman in New Jersey, in a place where there 
had been a revival. She was very positive there was going to 
be another. She insisted upon it that they had had the former 
rain, and were now going to have the latter rain. She wanted 
to have conference meetings appointed. But the minister and 
elders saw nothing to encourage it, and would do nothing. She 
saw they were blind, and so she went forward and got a car¬ 
penter to make seats for her, for she said she would have meet¬ 
ings in her own house. There was certainly going to be a revi¬ 
val. She had scarcely opened her doors for meetings, before 
the Spirit of God came down in great power. And these sleepy 
church members found themselves surrounded all at once with 
convicted sinners. And they could only say, “ Surely the Lord 
was in this place, and we knew it not.” The reason why such 
persons understand the indication of God’s will is not because 
of the superior wisdom that is in them, but because the Spirit of 
God leads them to see the signs of the times. And this, not by 
revelation, but they are led to see that converging of providences 
to a single point, which produces in them a confident expectation 
of a certain result. 

V. In what degree are we to expect the Spirit of God to affect 
the minds of believers? The text says, “The Spirit maketh 
intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered.” The mean¬ 
ing of this I understand to be, that the Spirit excites desires too 
great to be uttered except by groans. Something that language 


86 


SPIRIT OF.PRAYER. 


cannot utter—making the soul too full to utter its feelings by 
words, where the person can only groan them out to God, who 
understands the language of the heart. 

VI. How are we to know whether it is the Spirit of God that 
influences our minds or not? 

1. Not by feeling that some external influence or agency is 
applied to us. We are not to expect to feel our minds in direct 
physical contact with God. If such a thing can be, we know 
of no way in which it can he made sensible. We know that 
we exercise our minds freely, and that our thoughts are exer¬ 
cised on something that excites our feelings. But we are not 
to expect a miracle to he wrought, as if we were led by the 
hand, sensibly, or like something whispered in the ear, or any 
miraculous manifestation of the will of God. Individuals often 
grieve the Spirit away, because they do not harbor him and 
cherish his influences. Sinners often do this ignorantly. 
They suppose that if they were under conviction by the Spirit, 
they should have such and such mysterious feelings, a shock 
would come upon them, which they could not mistake. Many 
Christians are so ignorant of the Spirit’s influences, and have 
thought so little about having his assistance in prayer, that 
when they have them they do not know it, and so do not cherish, 
and yield to them, and preserve them. We are sensible of 
nothing in the case, only the movement of our own minds. 
There is nothing else that can be felt. We are merly sensible 
that our thoughts are intensely employed on a certain subject. 
Christians are often unnecessarily misled and distressed on this 
point, for fear they have not the Spirit of God. They feel in¬ 
tensely, but the}?- know what makes them feel. They are dis¬ 
tressed about sinners; but why should they not be distressed, 
when they think of their condition ? They keep thinking about 
them all the time, and why shouldn’t they be distressed ? Now, 
the truth is, that the very fact that you are thinking upon them 
is evidence that the Spirit of God is leading you. Do you not 
know that the greater part of the time these things do not af¬ 
fect you so? The greater part of the time you do not think 
much about the case of sinners. You know their salvation is 
always equally important. But at other times, even w r hen you 
are quite at leisure, your mind is entirely dark, and vacant of 
any feeling for them. But now, although you may be busy 
about other things, you think, you pray, and feel intensely for 
them, even while you are about business that at other times 
would occupy all your thoughts. Now, almost every thought 
you have is, “ God have mercy on them.” Why is this 1 Why, 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


87 


their case is placed in a strong light before your mind. Do you 
ask what it is, that leads your mind to exercise benevolent feel¬ 
ings for sinners, and to agonize in prayer for them? What can 
it be but the Spirit of God ? There are no devils that would 
lead you so. If your feelings are truly benevolent, you are to 
consider it as the Holy Spirit leading you to pray for things 
according to the will of God. 

2. Try the spirits by the Bible. People are sometimes led 
away by strange fantasies and crazy impulses. If you compare 
them faithfully with the Bible, you never need be led astray. 
You can always know whether your feelings are produced by 
the Spirit’s influences, by comparing your desires with the spirit 
and temper of religion, as described in the Bible. The Bible 
commands you to try the spirits. “ Beloved, believe not every 
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they be of God.” 

VII. How shall we get this influence of the Spirit of God ? 

1. It must be sought by fervent, believing prayer. Christ 
says, “ If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to 
your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father 
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask it!” Does any one say, 
I have prayed for it, and it does not come ? It is because you 
do not pray aright. “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask 
apiiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” You do not 
pray from right motives. A professor of religion, and a prin¬ 
cipal member in a church, once asked a minister what he 
thought of his case' he had been praying week after week for 
the Spirit, and had not found any benefit. The minister asked 
him what his motive was in praying. He said he wanted to 
be happy. He knew those who had the Spirit were happy, 
and he wanted to enjoy his mind as they did. Why, the devil 
himself might pray so. That is mere selfishness. The man 
turned away in anger. He saw that he had never known what 
it was to pray. He was convinced he was a hypocrite, and 
that his prayers were all selfish, dictated only by a desire for 
his own happiness. David prayed that God would uphold him 
by his free Spirit, that he might teach transgressors and turn 
sinners to God. A Christian should pray for the Spirit, that he 
may be the more useful and glorify God more; not that he him¬ 
self may be more happy. This man saw clearly where he had 
been in error, and he was converted. Perhaps many here have 
been just so. You ought to examine and see if all jmur prayers 
are not selfish. 

2, Use the means adapted to stir up your minds on the sub¬ 
ject, and to keep your attention fixed there. If a man' prays for 


88 


SPIRIT OF PRATER. 

' ' ' 

the Spirit, and then diverts his mind to other objects; uses no 
other means, but goes right away to worldly objects, he tempts 
God, he swings loose from his object, and it would be a miracle 
if he should get what he prays for. How is a sinner to get con¬ 
viction ? Why, by thinking of his sins. That is the way for a 
Christian to obtain deep feeling, by thinking on the object. 
God is not going to pour these things on you, without any ef¬ 
fort of your own. You must cherish the slightest impressions. 
Take the Bible, and go over the passages that show the condi¬ 
tion and prospects of the world. Look at the world, look at 
your children, and your neighbors, and see their condition 
w r hile they remain in sin, and persevere in prayer and effort 
till you obtain the blessing of the Spirit of God to dwell in you. 
This was the way, doubtless, that Dr. Watts came to have the 
feelings which he has described in the second Hymn of the 
second Book, which you would rlo well to read after you go 
home. 

My thoughts on awful subjects roll, 

Damnation and the dead : 

What horrors seize the guilty soul 
Upon a d^ing bed ! 

Lingering about these mortal shores, 

Sne makes a long delay, 

Till, like a flood, with rapid force 
Death sweeps the wretch away. 

Then, swift and dreadful, she descends 
Down to the fiery coast, 

Amongst abominable fiends, 

Herself a frighted ghost. 

' 

There endless crowds of sinners lie, 

And darkness makes th^ir chains; 

Tortured with keen despair they cry, 

Yet wait for fiercer pains. 

Not all their anguish and their blood 
For their past guilt atones, 

Nor the compassion of a God 
Shall hearken to their groans. 

Amazing grace, that kept my breath, 

Nor bid my soul remove, 

Till I had learned my Savior’s death, 

And well insured nis love ! 

Look, as it were, through a telescope that will bring it up 
near to you; look into hell, and hear them groan; then turn 
the glass upwards and look at heaven, and see the saints there, in 
their white robes, with their hai:ps in their hands, and hear them 
sing the song of redeeming love ; and ask yourself—Is it possi- 
sible, that I should prevail with God to elevate, the sinner there? 




SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


89 


Do this, and if you are not a wicked man, and a - stranger to 
God, you will soon have as much of the spirit of prayer as your 
body can sustain. 

3. You must watch unto prayer. You must keep a look out, 
and see if God grants the blessing when you ask him. People 
sometimes pray, and never look to see if the prayer is granted. 
Be careful also, not to grieve the Spirit of God. Confess and 
forsake your sins. God will never lead you as one of his hidden 
ones, and let you into his secrets, unless you confess and for¬ 
sake your sins. Not be always confessing and never forsake, 
but confess and forsake too. Make redress wherever you have 
committed an injury. You cannot expect to get the spirit of 
prayer first, and then repent. You can’t fight it through so. 
Professors of religion, who are proud and unyielding, and jus¬ 
tify themselves, never will force God to dwell with them. 

4. Aim to obey perfectly the written law. In other words, 
have no fellowship with sin. Aim at being entirely above the 
world ; “Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” 
If you sin at all, let it be your daily grief. The man who 
does not aim at this, means to live in sin. Such a man need 
not expect God’s blessing, for he is not sincere in desiring to 
keep all his commandments. 

VIII. For whom does the Spirit intercede? 

Answer—He maketh intercession for the saints, for all saints, 
for any who are saints. 

REMARKS 

1. Why do you suppose it is, that so little stress is laid on 
the influences of the Spirit in prayer, when so much is said 
about his influences in conversion ? Many people are amazingly 
afraid the Spirit’s influences will be left out. They lay great 
stress on the Spirit’s influences in converting sinners. But how 
little is said, how little is printed, about his influence in prayer ! 
How little complaining that people do not make enough of the 
Spirit’s influences in leading Christians to pray according to 
the will of God! Let it never be forgotten, that no Christian 
ever prays aright, unless led by the Spirit. He has natural 
power to pray*, and so far as the will of God is revealed, is able 
to do it; but he never does, unless the Spirit of God influences 
him. Just as sinners are able to repent, but never do, unless 
influenced by the Spirit. 

2. This subject lays open the foundation of the difficulty felt 
by many persons on the subject of the Prayer of Faith. They 
object to the idea that faith in prayer is a belief that we shall 

. 8 * 


90 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER, 


receive the very things for which we ask; and insist that there 
can be no foundation or evidence upon which to rest such a be¬ 
lief. In a sermon published a few years since, upon this sub¬ 
ject, the writer brings forward this difficulty, and presents it in 
its full strength. 1 have,' says he, no evidence that the thing 
prayed for will be granted, until I have prayed in faith; be¬ 
cause, praying in faith is the condition upon which it is pro¬ 
mised. And of course I cannot claim the promise, until I have 
fulfilled the condition. Now, if the condition is, that I am to 
believe I shall receive the very blessing for which I ask, it is 
evident that the promise is given upon the performance of an 
impossible condition, and is of course a mere nullity. The pro¬ 
mise would amount to just this: You shall have whatsoever 
you ask, upon the condition that you first believe that you shall 
receive it. Now, I must fulfil the condition before I can claim 
the promise. But I can have no evidence that I shall receive 
it, until I have believed that I shall receive it. This reduces 
me to the necessity of believing that I shall receive it before I 
have any evidence that I shall receive it—which is impossible. 

The whole force of this objection arises out of the fact, that 
the Spirit's influences are entirely overlooked, which he exerts 
in leading an individual to the exercise of faith. It has been 
supposed that the passage in Mark xi. 22 and 24, with other 
kindred promises on the subject of the Prayer of Faith, relate 
exclusively to miracles. But suppose this were true. I would 
ask, What were the apostles to believe, when they prayed for 
a miracle? Were they to believe that the precise miracle 
would be performed for which they prayed ? It is evident that 
they were. In the verses just alluded to, Christ says, “For 
verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this moun¬ 
tain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and shall 
not doubt in his heart, but SHALL BELIEVE THAT 
THESE THINGS WHICH HE SAITH SHALL COME 
TO PASS, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I 
say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, re¬ 
lieve that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” 
Here it is evident, that the thing to be believed, and which they 
were not to doubt in their heart, was, that they should have the 
very blessing for which they prayed. Now the objection above 
stated, lies in all its force against this kind of faith, when pray¬ 
ing for the performance of a miracle. If it be impossible to 
believe this in praying for any other blessing, it was equally so 
in praying for a miracle, I might ask, Could an apostle be¬ 
lieve that the miracle would be wrought, before he had fulfilled 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


91 


the condition? inasmuch as the condition was, that he should 
believe that he should receive that for which he prayed. Either 
the promise is a nullity and a deception, or there is a possibility 
of performing the condition. 

Now, as 1 have said, the whole difficulty lies in the fact that 
the Spirit’s influences are entirely overlooked, and that faith 
which is of the operation of God, is left out of the question. L 
the objection is good against praying for any object, it is as 
good against praying in faith for the performance of a miracle. 
The fact is, that the Spirit of God could give evidence, on which 
to believe that any particular miracle would be granted; could 
lead the mind to a firm reliance upon God, and trust that the 
blessing sought would be obtained. And so at the present day 
he can give the same assurance, in praying for any blessing 
that we heed. Neither in the one case or the other, are the 
influences of the Spirit miraculous. Praying is the same thing, 
whether you pray for the conversion of a soul, or for a miracle. 
Faith is the same thing in the one case as in the other; it only 
terminates on a different object; in the one case on the conver¬ 
sion of a soul, and in the other on the performance of a miracle. 
Nor is faith exercised in the one more than in the other, with¬ 
out reference to a promise; and a general promise may with, 
the same-propriety be applied to the conversion of a soul as to 
the performance of a miracle. And it is equally true in the one 
case as the other, that no man ever prays in faith without being 
influenced by the Spirit of God. And if the Spirit could lead 
the mind of an apostle to exercise faith in regard to a miracle, 
he can lead the mind of another Christian to exercise faith in 
regard to receiving any other blessing, by a reference to the 
same general promise. 

Should any one ask, “ When are we under an obligation to 
believe that we shall receive the blessing for which we ask?” 
I answer: 

(1.) When there is a particular promise, specifying the par¬ 
ticular blessing: as where we pray for the Holy Spirit. This, 
blessing is particularly named in the promise, and here we have 
evidence, and are bound to believe, whether w T e have any Divine 
influence or not; just as sinners are bound to repent whether 
the Spirit strives with them or not. Their obligation rests, not 
upon the Spirit’s influences, but upon the powers of moral 
agency which they possess;’ upon their ability to do their duty. 
And while it is true that not one of them ever will repent with¬ 
out the influences of the Spirit, still they have power to do so, 
and are under obligation to do so, whether thv, Spirit strive? 


92 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


with them or not. So with the Christian. He is bound to 
believe where he has evidence. And although he never does 
believe, even where he has an express promise, without the 
Spirit of God, yet his obligation to do so rests upon his ability, 
and not upon the Divine influence. 

(2.) Where God makes a revelation by his providence, we 
are bound to believe in proportion to the clearness of the provi¬ 
dential indication. 

(3.) So where there is a prophecy, we are bound also to 
believe. But in neither of these cases do we , in fact, believe, 
without the Spirit of God. 

But where there is neither promise, providence, nor prophecy, 
on which to repose our faith, we are under no obligation to 
believe, unless, as I have shown in this discourse, the Spirit 
gives us evidence, by creating desires, and by leading us to pray 
for a particular object. In the case of those promises of a 
general nature, where we are honestly at a loss to know in what 
particular cases to apply them, it may be considered rather as 
our privilege than as our duty , in many instances, to apply 
them to particular cases; but whenever the Spirit of God leads 
us to apply them to a particular object, then it becomes our duty 
so to apply them. In this case, God explains his own promise, 
and shows how he designed it should be applied. And then 
our obligation to make this application, and to believe in refer¬ 
ence to this particular object, remains in full force. 

3. Some have supposed that Paul prayed in faith for the 
removal of the thorn in the flesh, and that it was not granted. 
But they cannot prove that Paul prayed in faith. The pre¬ 
sumption is all on the other side, as I have shown in a former 
lecture. He had neither promise, nor prophecy, nor provi¬ 
dence, nor the Spirit of God, to lead him to believe. The whole 
objection goes on the ground that the apostle might pray in 
faith without being led by the Spirit. This is truly a short¬ 
hand method of disposing of the Spirit’s influences in prayer. 
Certainly, to assume that he prayed in faith, is to assume either 
that he prayed in faith without being led by the Spirit, or that 
the Spirit of God led him to pray for that which was not ac¬ 
cording to the will of God. 

I have dwelt the more on this subject, because I want to have 
it made so plain, that you will all be careful not to grieve the 
Spirit. I want you to have high ideas of the Holy Ghost, and 
to feel that nothing good will be done without his influences. 
No praying or preaching will bd of any avail without him. If 
Jesus Christ were to come down here and preach to sinners, 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


93 


not one would be converted without the Spirit. Be careful 
then not to grieve him away, by slighting or neglecting his 
heavenly influences when he invites you to pray. 

4. In praying for an object, it is necessary to persevere till 
you obtain it. O, with what eagerness Christians sometimes 
pursue a sinner in their prayers, when the Spirit of God has 
fixed their desires on him! No miser pursues his gold with so 
fixed a determination. 

5. The fear of being led by impulses has done great injury, 
by not being duly considered. A person’s mind may be led by 
an ignis fatuus. But we do wrong, if we let the fear of im¬ 
pulses lead us to resist the good , impulses of the Holy Ghost. 
No wonder Christians don’t have the spirit of prayer, if they 
are unwilling to take the trouble to distinguish ; and so reject 
or resist all impulses, and all leadings of invisible agents. A 
great deal has been said about fanaticism, that is very unguard¬ 
ed, and that causes many minds to reject the leadings of the 
Spirit of God. “ As many as are the sons of God, are led by 
the Spirit of God.” And it is our duty to “try the spirits, 
whether they be of God.” We should insist on a close scrutiny, 
and an accurate discrimination. There must be such a thing 
as being led by the Spirit. And when we are convinced it is 
of God, we should be sure to follow—follow on, with full con¬ 
fidence that he will not lead us wrong. 

6. We see from this subject the absurdity of using forms of 
prayer. The very idea of using a form, rejects, of course , the 
leadings of the Spirit. Nothing is more calculated to destroy 
the spirit of prayer, and entirely to darken and confuse the 
mind, as to what constitutes prayer, than to use forms. Forms 
of prayer are not only absurd in themselves, but they are the 
very device of the devil to destroy the spirit and break the 
power of prayer. It is of no use to say the form is a good one. 
Prayer does not consist in words. And it matters not what the 
words are, if the heart is not led by the Spirit of God. If the 
desire is not enkindled, the thoughts directed, and the whole 
current of feeling produced,-and led by the Spirit of God, it is 
not prayer. And set forms are, of all things, best calculated to 
keep an individual from praying as he ought, 

7. The subject furnishes a test of character.—The Spirit 
maketh intercession—for whom? For the saints. Those who 
are saints are thus exercised. If you are saints, you know by 
experience what it is to be thus exercised, or it is because you 
have grieved the Spirit of God, so that he will not lead you. 
You live in such a manner, that this Holy Comforter will not 


94 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


dwell with you, nor give you the spirit of prayer. If this is so* 
you must repent. Whether you are a Christian or not, don’t 
stop to settle that, but repent, as if you never had repented. Do 
your first works. Don’t take it for granted that you are a 
Christian, but go like a humble sinner, and pour out your heart 
unto the Lord. You never can have the spirit of prayer in 
any other way. 

8. The importance of understanding this subject. 

(1.) In order to be useful. Without this spirit theTe can be 
no such sympathy between you and God, that you can either 
walk with God or work with God. You need to have a strong 
beating of your heart with his, or you need not expect to be 
greatly useful. 

(2.) As important as your sanctification. Without such a 
spirit you will not be sanctified, you will not understand the 
Bible, you will not know how to apply it to your case. I w r ant 
you to feel the importance of having God with you all the time. 
If you live as you ought, he says he will come unto you, and 
make his abode with you, and sup with you, and you with him. 

9. If people know not the spirit of prayer, they are very apt 
to be unbelieving in regard to the results of prayer. They 
don’t see what takes place, or dont’ see the connection, or don’t 
see the evidence. They are not expecting spiritual blessings. 
When sinners are convicted, they think they are only fright¬ 
ened by such terrible preaching. And when people are con¬ 
verted, they feel no confidence, and only say, “We’ll see how 
they turn out.” 

10. Those who have the spirit of prayer know when the 
blessing comes. It was just so when Jesus Christ appeared.— 
Those ungodly doctors did not know him. Why? Because 
they were not praying for the redemption of Israel. But 
Simeon and Anna knew him. How was that ? Mark what they 
said, how they prayed, and how they lived. They were pray¬ 
ing in faith, and so they were not surprised when he came. So 
it is with such Christians. If sinners are convicted or convert¬ 
ed, they are not surprised at it. They were expecting just such 
things. They know God when he comes, because they were 
looking out for his visits. 

11. There are three classes of persons in the church who 
are liable to error, or have left the truth out of view, on this 
subject. 

(1.) Those who place great reliance on prayer, and use no 
other means. They are alarmed at any special means, and talk 
about your “getting up a r.evival.” 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


95 


(2.) Over against these are those who use means, and pray, 
but never think about the influences of the Spirit in prayer. 
They talk about prayer for the Spirit, and feel the importance 
of the Spirit in the conversion of sinners, but do not realize the 
importance of the Spirit in prayer. And their prayers are all 
cold talk, nothing that any body can feel, or that can take hold of 
God. 

(3.) Those who have certain strange notions about the sove¬ 
reignty of God, and are waiting for God to convert the world 
without prayer or means. 

There must be in the church a deeper sense of the need of 
the spirit of prayer. The fact is that, generally , those who use 
means most assiduously, and make the most strenuous efforts for 
the salvation of men, and who have the most correct notions of 
the manner in which means should be used for converting sin¬ 
ners, also pray most for the Spirit of God, and wrestle most 
with God for his blessing. And what is the result? Let facts 
speak, and say whether these persons do or do not pray, and 
whether the Spirit, of God does not testify to their prayers, and 
follow their labors with his power. 

10. A spirit very different from the spirit of prayer appears 
to prevail in the Presbyterian church. Nothing will produce 
an excitement and opposition so quick as the spirit of prayer. 
If any person should feel burdened with the case of sinners, in 
prayer, so as to groan in his prayer, why, the women are ner¬ 
vous, and he is visited at once with rebuke and opposition. 
From my soul -I abhor all affectation of feeling where there is 
none, and all attempts to work one’s self up into feeling by 
groans. But I feel bound to defend the position, that there is 
such a thing as being in a state of mind, in which there is but 
one way to keep from groaning; and that is, by resisting the 
Holy Ghost. I was once present where this subject was dis¬ 
cussed. It was said that groaning ought to be discountenanced. 
The question was asked, whether God could not produce such 
a state of feeling, that to abstain from groaning was impossible ? 
and the answer was, “Yes, but he never does.” Then the 
apostle Paul was egregiously deceived, when he wrote about 
groanings that cannot be uttered. Edwards was deceived, 
when he wrote his book upon revivals. Revivals are all in the 
dark. Now, no man who reviews the history of the church will 
adopt such a sentiment. I don’t like this attempt to shut out, 
or stifle, or keep down, or limit the spirit of prayer. I would 
sooner cut off* my right hand, than rebuke the spirit of prayer, 


96 


SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 


{ 


as I have heard of its being done by saying, “ Don’t let me hear 
any more groaning.” 

But then, I hardly know where to end this subject. I should 
like to discuss it a month, and till the whole church could un¬ 
derstand it, so as to pray the prayer of faith. Beloved, I want 
to ask you if you believe all this ? Or do you wonder that I 
should talk so ? Perhaps some of you have had some glimpses 
of these things. Now, will you give yourselves up to prayer, 
and live so as to have the spirit of prayer, and have the spirit 
with you all the time ? O, for a praying church ! I once knew 
a minister who had a revival fourteen winters in succession. I 
did not know how to account for it, till I saw one of his mem¬ 
bers get up in a prayer meeting, and make a confession. 
“ Brethren,” said he, “ I have been long in the habit of praying 
every Saturday night till after midnight, for the descent of the 
Holy Ghost among us. And now, brethren,” and he began 
to weep, “ I confess that I have neglected it for two or three 
weeks.” The secret was out. That minister had a praying 
church. Brethren, in my present state of health, I find it im¬ 
possible to pray as much as I have been in the habit of doing, 
and continue to preach. It overcomes my strength. Now, 
shall I give myself up to prayer, and stop preaching? That 
will not do. Now, will not you, who are in health, throw your¬ 
selves into this work, and bear this burden, and Jay yourselves 
out in prayer, till God will pour out his blessing upon us ? 






LECTURE VII. 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


Text.—B e filled with the Spirit.— Eph. v. 18 . 


Several of my last lectures have been on the subject of 
prayer, and the importance of having the spirit of prayer, of 
the intercession of the Holy Ghost. Whenever the necessity 
and importance of the Spirit’s, influences are held forth, there 
can be no doubt that persons are in danger of abusing the doc¬ 
trine, and perverting it to their own injury. For instance, when 
you tell sinners that without the Holy Spirit they never will 
repent, they are very liable to pervert the truth, and understand 
by it that they cannot repent, and therefore are under no obli¬ 
gation to do it until they feel the Spirit. It is often difficult to 
make them see that all the “cannot” consists in their unwilling¬ 
ness, and not in their inability. So again, when we tell Chris¬ 
tians that they need the Spirit’s aid in prayer, they are very 
apt to think they are under no obligation to pray the prayer of 
faith, until they feel the influences of the Spirit. They can’t be 
made to see that in all those cases, where they have any means 
of ascertaining the mind and will of God, they are dependent 
on the Spirit’s aid in prayer for precisely the same reason that 
sinners are dependent, and in the same sense. They often 
make it a matter of self-justification, as if it was a necessity 
arising out of an inability, instead of an unwillingness to do that 
which lies within their power. 

Before we come to consider the other department of means 
for promoting a revival, that is, the means to be used with sin¬ 
ners , I wish to show you, that if you live without the Spirit, you 
are without excuse. Obligation to perform duty never rests on 
the condition, that we shall first have the influence of the Spirit, 
but on the powers of moral agency. We, as moral agents, 
have the power to obey God, and are perfectly bound to obey, 
and the reason we do not is, that we are unwilling. The in¬ 
fluences of the Spirit are wholly a matter of grace. If they 
were indispensable to enable us to perform duty, the bestowment 
of them would not be n gracious act, but a mere matter of com¬ 
mon justice. Sinners are not bound to repent because they 
have the Spirit’s influence, or because they can obtain it, butbe- 

9 


98 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


cause they are moral agents, and have the powers which God 
requires them to exercise. So in the case of Christians.. They 
are not bound to pray in faith because they have the Spirit, (ex¬ 
cept in those cases where his influences in begetting desire con¬ 
stitute the evidence that it is God’s will to grant the object of 
desire,) but because they have evidence. They are not bound 
to pray in faith at all, except when they have evidence as the 
foundation of their faith. They must have evidence from pro¬ 
mises, or principle, or prophecy, or providence. And where 
they have evidence independent of his influences, they are 
bound to exercise faith, whether they have the Spirit’s influence 
or not. They are bound to see the evidence, and to believe. 
The Spirit is given not to enable them to see and believe, but 
because without it they will not look, nor feel, nor act, as they 
ought. I purpose this evening to show from the text, 

I. That individuals may have the Spirit of God, or be filled 
with the Spirit. 

IT. That it is their duty to be filled with the Spirit. 

III. Why they do not have the Spirit. 

IV. The guilt of those who have not the Spirit of God, to 
lead their minds in duty and prayer. 

V. The consequences that will follow if they do have the 
Spirit. 

VI. The consequences if they do not have the Spirit. 

1. I am to show you that you may have the Spirit. Not 
because it is a matter of justice for God to give you his Spirit, 
but because he has promised to give it to those that ask. “ If ye 
then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, 
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give the 
Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” If you ask the Holy Spirit, 
God has promised to give it. 

But again, God has commanded you to have it. He says in 
the text, “ Be filled with the Spirit.” When God commands us 
to do a thing, it is the highest possible evidence that we can do 
it. For God to command, is equivalent to an oath that we can 
do it. He has no right to command, unless we have power to 
obey. There is no stopping short of the conclusion that God 
is an infinite tyrant, if he commands that which is impracticable. 

II. I am to show, secondly, that it is your duty. 

t. Because you have a promise of it. 

2. Because God has commanded it. 

3. It is essential to your own growth in grace that you should 
be filled with the Spirit. 

4. It is as important as it is that you should be sanctified. 



BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT- 


99 


5. It is as necessary as it is that you should he useful and do 
good in the world. 

6. If you do not have the Spirit of God in you, you will dis¬ 
honor God, disgrace the church, and die and go to hell. 

III. Why many do not have the Spirit. There are some, 
even professors of religion, who will say, “ I don’t know any 
thing about all this; I never had any such experience; either 
it is not true or I am all wrong.” No doubt you are all wrong, 
if you know nothing about the influence of the Spirit. I want 
to present you with a few of the reasons that may prevent you 
from being filled with the Spirit. 

1. It may be that you live a hypocritical life. Your prayers 
are not earnest and sincere. Not only is your religion a mere 
outside show, without any heart, but you are insincere in your 
intercourse with others. Thus you do many things to grieve 
the Spirit, so that he cannot dwell with yon. 

A minister was once boarding in a certain family, and the lady 
of the house was constantly complaining that she did not enjoy 
her mind, and nothing seemed to help her. One day some ladies 
called to see her, and she protested that she was very much 
offended because they had not called before, and pressed them to 
stay and spend the day, and declared she could not consent to let 
them go.—They excused themselves, however, and left the house, 
and as soon as they were gone, she said to her servant, she won¬ 
dered these people had so little sense as to be always troubling 
her, and taking up her time. The minister heard it, and 
immediately rebuked her, and told her she could now see why 
she did not enjoy religion. It was because she was in the daily 
habit of insincerity that amounted to downright lying. And the 
Spirit of truth could not dwell in such a heart. 

2. Others have so much levity that the Spirit will not dwell 
with them. The Spirit of God is solemn, and serious, and will 
not dwell with those who give way to thoughtless levity. 

3. Others are so proud that they cannot have the Spirit. 
They are so fond of dress, high life, equipage, fashion, &c., that 
it is no wonder they are not filled with the Spirit. And yet 
such persons will pretend to be at a loss to know why it is that 
they do not enjoy religion! 

4. Some are so worldly-minded, love property so well, and 
are trying so hard to get rich, that they cannot have the Spirit. 
How can he dwell with them, when their thoughts are all on 
things of the world, and all their powers absorbed in procuring 
wealth ? And they hold on to it when they get it, and they are 
pained if pressed by conscience to do something for the conver- 


100 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


sion of the world. They show how much they love the world, 
in all their intercourse with others. Little things show it. They 
will screw down a poor man, who is doing a little piece of work 
for them, to the lowest penny. If they are dealing on a large 
scale, very likely they will be liberal and fair, because it is for 
their advantage. But if it is a person they care not about, a 
laborer, or a mechanic, or a servant, they will grind him down 
to the last fraction, no matter what it is really worth; and they 
actually pretend to make conscience of it, that they cannot pos¬ 
sibly give any more. Now they would be ashamed to deal so 
with people of their own rank, because it would be known and 
injure their reputation. But God knows it, and has it all writ¬ 
ten down, that they are covetous and unfair in their dealings, 
and will not do right, only when it is for their interest. Now 
how can such professors have the Spirit of God ? It is impos¬ 
sible. 

There are a multitude of such things, by which the Spirit of 
God is grieved. People call them little sins, but God will not 
call them little. I was struck with this thought, when I saw a 
little notice in the Evangelist. The publishers stated that they 
had many thousand dollars in the hands of subscribers, which 
was justly due, and that it would cost them as much as it was 
worth to send an agent to collect it. I suppose it is so with all 
the other religious papers, that subscribers either put the pub¬ 
lisher to the trouble and expense of sending an agent to collect 
his due, or else they cheat him out of it. There are doubtless, I 
don’t know how many, thousands of dollars held back in this way 
by professors of religion, just because it is in such small sums, 
or they are so far off that they can’t be sued. And yet these 
people will pray, and appear very pious, and wonder why they 
cannot enjoy religion, and have the Spirit of God! It is this 
looseness of moral principle, this want of conscience about little 
matters, prevailing in the church, that grieves away the Holy 
Ghost. Why, it would be disgraceful to God to dwell and 
have communion with such persons, who will take an advan¬ 
tage and cheat their neighbor out of his dues, because they can 
do it and not be disgraced. 

5. Others do not fully confess and forsake their sins, and so 
cannot enjoy the Spirit’s presence. They will confess their 
sins in general terms, perhaps, and are ready always to acknow¬ 
ledge that they are sinners. Or they will confess partially 
some particular sins. But they do'it reservedly, proudly, 
guardedly, as if they were afraid they should say a little more 
than is necessary; that is, when they confess to men the injuries 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


101 


done to them. They do it in a way which shows that, instead 
of bursting- forth from an ingenuous heart, the confession is 
wrung from them, by the hand of conscience griping them. If 
they have injured any one, they will make a partial recanta¬ 
tion, which is hard-hearted, cruel, and hypocritical, and then 
they will ask, “ Now, brother, are you satisfied ?” And you 
know it would be very difficult for a person to say that he was 
not satisfied, even if the confession is cold and heartless. But 
I tell you God is not satisfied. He knows whether you have 
gone the full length of honest confession, and taken all the 
blame that belongs to you. If your confessions have been con¬ 
strained and wrung from you, do you suppose you can cheat 
God ? “ He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso 
confesseth and forsaketh shall find mercy.” “ He that hum- 
bleth himself shall be exalted.” Unless you come quite down, 
and confess your sins honestly, and remunerate where you have 
done injury, you have no right to expect the spirit of prayer. 

6. Others are neglecting some known duty, and that is the 
reason why they have not the Spirit. One does not pray in 
his family, though he knows he ought to do it, and yet he is 
trying to get the spirit of prayer ! There is many a young man 
who feels in his heart that he ought to prepare for the ministry, 
and he has not the spirit of prayer because he has some worldly 
object in view, which prevents his devoting himself to the work* 
He has known his duty, and refuses to do it, and now he is 
praying for direction from the Spirit of God. He can’t have it. 
One has neglected to make a profession of religion. He knows 
his duty, but he refuses to join the church. He once had the 
spirit of prayer, but neglecting his duty, he grieved the Spirit 
away. And now he thinks, if he could once more enjoy the 
light of God’s countenance, and have his evidences renewed, he 
would do his duty, and join the church. And so he is praying 
for it again, and trying to bring God over to his terms, to grant 
him his presence. You need not expect it. You will live and 
die in darkness, unless you are willing first to do your duty, 
before God manifests himself qs reconciled to you. It is in 
vain to say, you will come forward if God will first show you 
the light of his countenance. He never will do it as long as you 
live; he will let you die without it, if you refuse to do your duty. 

I have known women who felt that they ought to talk to their 
unconverted husbands, and pray with them, but they have ne¬ 
glected it, and so they get into the dark. They knew their 
duty and refused to do it; they went round it, and there they lost 
the spirit of prayer. 


9 * 


102 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


If you have neglected any known duty, and thus lost the 
spirit of prayer, you must yield first. God has a controversy 
with you; you have refused obedience to God, and you must 
retract it. You may have forgotten it, but God has not, and you 
must set yourself to recall it to mind, and repent. God never 
will yield nor grant you his Spirit, till you repent. Had I an 
omniscient eye now, I could call the names of the individuals in 
this congregation, who had neglected some known duty, or 
committed some sin, that they have not repented of, and now 
they are praying for the spirit of prayer, but they cannot suc¬ 
ceed in obtaining it. 

To illustrate this I will relate a case. A good man in the 
western part of this state, had been a long time an engaged 
Christian, and he used to talk to the sleepy church with which 
he was connected. By and by the church was offended and 
got out of patience, and many told him they wished he would 
let them alone, they did not think he could do them any good. 
He took them at their word, and they all went to sleep together, 
and remained so two or three years. By and by a minister 
came among them and a revival commenced, but this elder 
seemed to have lost his spirituality. He used to be forward in 
a good work, but now he held back. Every body thought it 
unaccountable. Finally, as he was going home one night, the 
truth of his situation flashed upon his mind, and he went into 
absolute despair for a few minutes. At length his thoughts 
were directed back to that sinful resolution to let the church 
alone in their sins. He felt that no language could describe 
the blackness of that sin. He realized that moment what it 
was to be lost, and to find that God had a controversy with 
him. He saw that it was a bad spirit which caused the reso¬ 
lution : the same that caused Moses to say, “ You rebels.” He 
humbled himself on the spot, and God poured out his Spirit on 
him. Perhaps some of you that hear me are in just this situa¬ 
tion. You have said something provoking or unkind to some 
person. Perhaps it was peevishness to a servant that was a 
Christian. Or perhaps it was speaking censoriously of a min¬ 
ister or some other person. Perhaps you have been angry be¬ 
cause your opinions have not been taken, or your dignity has 
been encroached upon. Search thoroughly, and see if you 
cannot find out the sin. Perhaps you have forgotten it. But 
God has not forgotten it, and never will forgive your unchris¬ 
tian conduct until you repent. God cannot overlook it. It 
would do no good if he should. What good would it do to for¬ 
give, while the sin is rankling in your heart? 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


103 


7. Perhaps you have resisted the Spirit of God. Perhaps 
you are in the habit of resisting the Spirit. You resist convic¬ 
tion. In preaching, when something has been said that reached 
your case, your heart has risen up against it and resisted. 
Many are willing to hear plain and searching preaching so 
long as they can apply it all to others; a misanthropic spirit 
makes them take a satisfaction in hearing others searched and 
rebuked; hut if the truth touch them ,, they directly cry out that 
it is personal and abusive. Is this your case? 

8. The fact is that you do not on the xohole desire the Spirit. 
This is true in every case in which you do not have the Spirit. 
Let me not be mistaken here. 1 want you should carefully dis¬ 
criminate. Nothing is more common than for people to desire 
a thing on some accounts, which they do not choose on the 
whole. A person may see an article in a store which he de¬ 
sires to purchase, and he goes in and asks the price, and thinks 
of it a little, and on the whole concludes not to purchase it. He 
desires the article, but does not like the price, or does not like 
to be at the expense, so that, upon the whole, he prefers not to 
purchase it. That is the reason why he does not purchase it. 
So persons may desire the Spirit of God on some accounts; 
from a regard to the comfort and joy of heart which it brings. 
If you know what it is by former experience to commune with 
God, and how sweet it is to dissolve in penitence and to be filled 
with the Spirit, you cannot but desire a return of those joys. 
And you may set yourself to pray earnestly for it, and to pray 
for a revival of religion. But on the whole you are unwilling 
it should come. You have so much to do that you cannot at¬ 
tend to it. Or it will require so many sacrifices, that you can¬ 
not bear to have it. There are some things you are not willing 
to give up. You find that if you wish to have the Spirit of 

, God dwell with you, you must lead a different life, you must 
give up the world, you must make sacrifices, you must break 
off from your worldly associates, and make confession of your 
sins. And so on the whole you do not choose to have him come, 
unless he will consent to dwell with you and let you live as you 
please. But that he never will do. 

9. Perhaps you do not pray for the Spirit; or you pray and 
use no other means, or pray and do not act consistently with 
your prayers. Or you use means calculated to resist them. 
Or you ask, and as soon as he comes and begins to affect your 
mind, you gri( ve him right .away, and will not walk with him. 

TV/I am tc show the~great guilt of not having the Spirit of 


104 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


1. Your guilt is just as great as the authority of God is 
great, which commands you to be filled with the Spirit. God 
commands it, and it is just as much a disobedience of God’s 
commands, as it is to swear profanely, or steal, or commit adul¬ 
tery, or break the Sabbath. Think of that. And yet there are 
many people who do not blame themselves at all for not having 
the Spirit. They even think themselves quite pious Christians, 
because they go to prayer meetings, and partake of the sacra¬ 
ment, and all that, though they live year after year without the 
Spirit of God. Now, you see that the same God who says, 
“ Do not get drunk,” says also, “ Be filled with the Spirit.” 
You all say, if a man is an habitual murderer, or a thief, he is 
no Christian. Why? Because he lives in habitual disobedi¬ 
ence to God. So if he swears, you have no charity for him. 
You won’t allow him to plead that his heart is right, and words 
are nothing. God does not care anything about words. You 
would think it outrageous to have such a man in the church, 
or to have a company of such people pretend to call themselves 
a church of Christ. And yet they are not a whit more abso¬ 
lutely living in disobedience to God, than you are, "who live 
without the spirit of prayer, and without the presence of God. 

2. Your guilt is equal to all the good you might do if you 
had the Spirit of God in as great measure as it is your duty to 
have it, and as you might have it. You elders of this church! 
how much good you might do, if you had the Spirit. And you 
Sunday school teachers, how much good you might do; and 
you church members too, if you were filled with the Spirit, you 
might do vast good, infinite good. Well, your guilt is just as 
great. Here is a blessing promised, and you can have it by 
doing your duty. You are entirely responsible to the church 
and to God for all this good that you might do. A man is re¬ 
sponsible for all the good he can do. 

3. Your guilt is further measured by all the evil which you 
do in consequence of not having the Spirit. You are a dis¬ 
honor to religion. You are a stumbling block to the church, 
and to the world. And your guilt is enhanced by all the va¬ 
rious influences you exert. And it will prove so in the day of 
judgment. 

V. The consequences of having the, Spirit. 

1. You will be called eccentric; and probably you will de¬ 
serve it. Probably you will really be eccentric. I never knew 
a person who was filled with the Spirit, that was not called ec¬ 
centric. And the reason is, that they are unlike other people. 
This is always a term of comparison. There is therefore the 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


105 


best of reasons why such persons should appear eccentric. 
They act under different influences, take different views, are 
moved by different motives, led by a different spirit. You are 
to expect such remarks. How often I have heard the remark 
respecting such and such persons, “ He is a very good man— 
but he is rather eccentric.” I have sometimes asked for the 
particulars ; in what does his eccentricity consist 'l I hear the 
catalogue, and the amount is, that he is spiritual. Make up 
your mind for this, to be eccentric. There is such a thing as 
affected eccentricity. Horrible! But there is such a thing as 
being so deeply imbued with the Spirit of God, that you must 
and will act so as to appear strange and eccentric, to those who 
cannot understand the reasons of your conduct. 

2. If you have much of the Spirit of God,it is not unlikely you 
will be thought deranged, by many. We judge men to be de¬ 
ranged, when they act differently from what we think to be pru¬ 
dent and according to common sense, and when they come to 
conclusions for which we can see no good reasons. Paul was 
accused of being deranged, by those who did not understand the 
views of things under which he acted. No doubt Festus thought 
the man was crazy, and that much learning had made him mad. 
But Paul said, “ I am not mad, most noble Festus.” His con¬ 
duct was so strange, so novel, that Festus thought it must be 
insanity. But the truth w r as, he only saw the subject so clearly, 
that he threw" his whole soul into it. They were entirely in the 
dark in respect to the motive by which he was actuated. This 
is by no means uncommon. Multitudes have appeared, to those 
who had no spirituality, as if they were deranged. Yet they 
saw good reasons for doing as they did. God was leading their 
minds to act in such a way, that those w r ho were not spiritual 
could not see the reasons. You must make up your mind to 
this, and so much the more, as you live more above the world 
and walk with God. 

3. If you have the Spirit of God, you must expect to feel great 
distress in view of the church and the w r orld. Some spiritual 
epicures ask for the Spirit because they think it will make them 
so perfectly happy. Some people think that spiritual Christians 
are always very happy and free from sorrow. 

There never was a greater mistake. Read your Bibles, and 
see how the prophets and apostles were always groaning and 
distressed in view of the state of the church and the world. 
The apostle Paul says he was always bearing about in his body 
the dying of the Lord Jesus. I protest, says he, that I die daily. 
You will know what it is to sympathize with the Lord Jesus 



106 BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 

Christ, and be baptized with the baptism that he was baptized 
with. O how he agonized in view of the state of sinners ! how 
he travailed in soul for their salvation ! The more you have of 
his Spirit, the more clearly you will see the state of sinners, and 
the more deeply you will be distressed about them. Many times 
you will feel as if you could not live in view of their situation ; 
your distress will be unutterable. 

4. You will be often grieved with the state of the ministry. 
Some years since I met a woman belonging to one of the 
churches in this city. I inquired of her the state of religion 
here. She seemed unwilling to say much about it, made some 
general remarks, and then choked, and her eyes filled, and she 
said, “ O, our minister’s mind seems to be very dark.” Spiritual 
Christians often feel like this, and often weep over it. I have 
seen much of it, and often found Christians who wept and 
groaned in secret, to cee the darkness on the minds of ministers 
in regard to religion, their earthliness and fear of man; but 
they dared not speak of it, lest they should be denounced and 
threatened, and perhaps turned out of the church. I do not 
say these things censoriously, to reproach my brethren, but be¬ 
cause they are true. And ministers ought to know, that nothing 
is more common than for spiritual Christians to feel burdened 
and distressed at the state of the ministry. I would not wake 
up any wrong feelings towards ministers, but it is time it should 
be known, that Christians do often get spiritual views of things, 
and their souls are kindled up, and then they find that their 
minister does not enter into their feelings, that he is far 
below the standard of what he ought to be, and in spirituality 
far below some of the members of his church. This is one of 
the mqst prominent, and de’eply to be deplored evils of the pre¬ 
sent day. The piety of the ministry, though real , is so super¬ 
ficial, in many instances, that the spiritual part of the church 
feel that ministers cannot, do not, sympathise with them. Their 
preaching does not meet their wants, it does not feed them, it 
does not meet their experience. The ministers have not depth 
enough of religious experience, to know how to search and 
wake up the church ; to help those under temptation, to suppor 
the weak, to direct the strong, and lead them through all the 
labyrinths and mazes with which their path may be beset. When 
a minister has gone with a church as far as his experience in 
spiritual exercises goes, there 'he stops; and until he has a re¬ 
newed experience, until he is reconverted, his heart broken up 
afresh, and he set forward in the divine life and Christian expe¬ 
rience, he will help them no more. He may preach sound doc- 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


107 


trine, and so may an unconverted minister; but, after all, his 
preaching will want that searching pungency, that practical 
bearing, that unction which alone will reach the case of a spi¬ 
ritually-minded Christian. It is a fact over which the church 
is groaning, that the piety of young men suffers so much in the 
course of their education, that when they enter the ministry, 
however much intellectual furniture they may possess, they are 
in a state of spiritual babyhood. They want nursing, and need 
rather to be fed, than to undertake to feed the church of God. 

5. If you have much of the Spirit of God, you must make up 
your mind to have much opposition, both in the church and the 
world. Very likely the leading men in the church will oppose 
you. There has always been opposition in the church. So it 
was when Christ was on earth. If you are far above their state 
of feeling, church members will oppose you. If any man will 
live godly in Christ Jesus, he must expect persecution. Often 
the elders, and even the minister will oppose you, if you are filled 
with the Spirit of God. 

6. You must expect very frequent and agonizing conflicts 
with Satan. Satan has very little trouble with those Christians 
who are not spiritual, but lukewarm, and slothful, and worldly- 
minded. And such do not understand what is said about spirit¬ 
ual conflicts. Perhaps they will smile when such things are 
mentioned. And so the devil lets them alone. They don’t dis¬ 
turb him, nor he them. But spiritual Christians, he under¬ 
stands very well, are doing him a vast injury, and therefore he 
sets himself against them. Such Christians often have terrible 
conflicts. They have temptations that they never thought of 
before, blasphemous thoughts, atheism, suggestions to do deeds of 
wickedness, to destroy their own lives, and the like. And if 
you are spiritual, you may expect these terrible conflicts. 

7. You will have greater conflicts with yourself than you 
ever thought of. You will sometimes find your own corrup¬ 
tions making strange headway against the Spirit. “The flesh 
lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” Such 
a Christian is often thrown into consternation at the power of 
his own corruptions. One of the Commodores in the United 
States was, as I have been told, a spiritual man; and his pastor 
told me he had known that man lie on the floor and groan a 
great part of the night, in conflict with his own corruptions, and 
to cry to God in agony that he would break the power of the 
temptation. It seemed as if the devil was determined to ruin 
him; and his own heart, for the time being, was almost in league 
with the devil. 


108 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


8. But you will have peace with God. If the church, and 
sinners, and the devil, oppose you, there will be one with whom 
you will have peace. Let those who are called to these trials, 
and conflicts, and temptations, and who groan, and pray, and 
weep, and break your hearts, remember this consideration: 
your peace, so far as your feelings towards God are concerned, 
will flow like a river. 

9. You will likewise have peace of conscience, if you are 
led by the Spirit. You will not be constantly goaded and kept 
on the rack by a guilty conscience Your conscience will be 
calm and quiet, unruffled as the summer's lake. 

10. If filled with the Spirit, you will be useful. You cannot 
help being useful. Even if you were sick and unable to go out 
of your room, or to converse, and saw nobody, you would be 
ten times more useful than a hundred of those common sort of 
Christians who have no spirituality. To give you an idea of 
this, 1 will relate an anecdote. A pious man in the western 
part of this state was sick with a consumption. He was a poor 
man, and sick for years. An unconverted merchant in the place, 
had a kind heart, and used to send him now and then some 
things for his comfort, or for his family. He felt grateful for 
the kindness, but could make no return, as he wanted to do. At 
length he determined that the best return he could make would 
be to pray for his salvation ; he began to pray, and his soul 
kindled, and he got hold of God. There was no revival there, 
but by and by, to the astonishment of every body, this mer¬ 
chant came right out on the Lord’s side. The fire kindled all 
over the place, and a powerful revival followed, and multitudes 
were converted. 

This poor man lingered in this way for several years, and 
died. After his death, I visited the place, and his widow put 
into my hands his diary. Among other things, he says in his 
diary, “ I am acquainted with about thirty ministers and 
churches.” He then goes on to set apart certain hours in the 
day and week to pray for each of these ministers and churches, 
and also certain seasons for praying for the different missionary 
stations. Then followed, under different dates, such facts as 
these: “To-day,” naming the date, “I have been enabled to 
offer what I call the prayer of faith for the outpouring of the 

Spirit on-church, and I trust in God there will soon be a 

revival there.” Under another date, “ I have to-day been able 
to offer what I call the prayer of faith for such a church, and 
trust there will soon be a revival there.” Thus he had gone 
over a great number of churches, recording the fact that he had 



BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


109 


prayed for them in faith that a revival might soon prevail among 
them. Of the missionary stations, if I recollect right, he men¬ 
tions in particular the mission at Ceylon. I believe the last 
place mentioned in his diary, for which he offered the prayer 
of faith, was the place in which he lived. Not long after no¬ 
ticing these facts in his diary, the revival commenced, and went 
over the region of country, nearly, I believe, if not quite, in the 
order in which they had been mentioned in his diary; and in 
due time news came from Ceylon that there was a revival of 
religion there. The revival in his own town did not commence 
till after his death. Its commencement was at the time when 
his widow put into my hands the document to which I have re¬ 
ferred. She told me that he was so exercised in prayer during 
his sickness, that she often feared he would pray himself to 
death. The revival was exceedingly great and powerful in all 
the region ; and the fact that it was about to prevail had not been 
hidden from this servant of the Lord. According to his word, 
the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. Thus this 
man, too feeble in body to go out of his house, was yet more 
useful to the world and 'the church of God, than all the heart¬ 
less professors in the country. Standing between God and the 
desolations of Zion, and pouring out his heart in believing 
prayer, as a prince he had power with God, and prevailed. 

11. If you are filled with the Spirit, you will not find your¬ 
selves distressed, and galled, and worried, when people speak 
against you. When I find people irritated and fretting at any 
little thing that touches them, I am sure they have not the Spirit 
of Christ. Jesus Christ could have every thing said against 
him that malice could invent, and yet not be in the least dis¬ 
turbed by it. If you mean to be meek under persecution, and 
exemplify the temper of the Savior, and honor religion in this 
way, you need to he filled with the Spirit. 

12. You will be wise in using means for the conversion of 
sinners. If the Spirit of God is in you, he will lead you to use 
means wisely, in a way adapted to the end, and to avoid doing 
hurt. No man who is not filled with the* Spirit of God, is 
fit to he employed in directing the measures adopted in a revi¬ 
val. Their hands will he all thumbs, unable to take hold, and 
they will act as if they had not common sense. But a man who 
is led by theSpirit of God, will know how to time his measures 
right, and how to apportion Divine truth, so as to make it tell 
to the best advantage. 

13. You will be calm under affliction; not thrown into con¬ 
fusion or consternation when you see the storm coming over 

10 


110 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


you. People around will be astonished at your calmness and 
cheerfulness under heavy trials, not knowing the inward sup¬ 
ports of those who are filled with the Spirit. 

14. You will be resigned in death; you will always feel 
prepared to die, and not afraid to die, and after death you will 
be proportionably more happy for ever in heaven. 

VI. Consequences of not being filled with the Spirit. 

1. You will often doubt, and reasonably doubt, whether you 
are Christians. You will have doubts, and you ought to have 
them. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. And if 
you are not led by the Spirit, what reason have you to think 
you are sons'? You will try to make a little evidence go a 
great way to bolster up your hopes, but you can’t do it, unless 
your conscience is seared as with a hot iron. You cannot help 
being plunged often into painful doubt and uncertainty about 
your state. 

2. You will always be unsettled in your views about the 
prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is something so spiritual, 
so much a matter of experience and not of speculation, that 
unless you are spiritual yourselves, you will not understand it 
fully. You may talk a great deal about the prayer of faith, and 
for the time get thoroughly convinced of it. But you will never 
feel so settled on it as to retain the same position of mind con¬ 
cerning it, and in a little while you will be all uncertainty. I 
knew a curious instance in a brother minister. He told me, 
“ When I have the Spirit of God, and enjoy his presence, I be¬ 
lieve firmly in the prayer of faith; but when I have it not, I 
find myself doubting whether there is any such thing, and my 
mind is full of objections.” I know, from my own experience, 
what this is, and when I hear persons raising objections to that 
view of prayer which I have presented in these lectures, I 
understand very well what their difficulty is, and have often 
found it impossible to satisfy their minds, while so far from 
God; when at the same time they would understand it them¬ 
selves, without argument, whenever they had experienced it. 

3. If you have not the Spirit, you will be very apt to stumble 
at those who have. You will douU the propriety of their con¬ 
duct. If they seem to feel a good deal more than yourself, you 
will be likely to call it animal feeling. You will perhaps 
doubt their sincerity when they say they have such feelings. 
You will say, “I don’t know what to make of brother such-a- 
one; he seems to be very pious, but I don’t understand him, I 
think he has a great deal of animal feeling.” Thus you will be 
tryiny to censure them, for the purpose of justifying yourself 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


Ill 


4. You will be had in reputation with the impenitent, and with 
carnal professors. They will praise you, as a rational, ortho¬ 
dox, consistent Christian. You will be just in the frame of 
mind to walk with them, because you are agreed. 

5. You will be much troubled with fears about fanaticism. 
Whenever there are revivals, you will see in them a strong tend¬ 
ency to fanaticism, and will be full of fears and anxiety. 

6. You will be much disturbed by the measures that are used 
in revivals. If any measures are adopted, that are decided and 
direct, you will think they are all “new,” and will be stumbled 
at them just in proportion to your want of spirituality. You do 
not see their appropriateness. You will stand and cavil at the 
measures, because you are so blind that you cannot see their 
adaptedness, while all heaven is rejoicing in them as the means 
of saving souls. 

7. You will be a reproach to religion. The impenitent will 
sometimes praise you because you are so much like themselves, 
and sometimes laugh about you because you are such a hypocrite. 

8. You will know but little about the Bible. 

9. If you die without the Spirit, you will fall into hell. There 
can be no doubt of this. 


REMARKS. 

1. Christians are as guilty for not having the Spirit, as sin¬ 
ners are for not repenting. 

2. They are even more so. As they have more light, they 
are so much the more guilty 4 

3. All beings have a right to complain of Christians who have 
not the Spirit. You are not doing work for Cod, and he has a 
right to complain. He has placed his Spirit at your disposal, 
and if you have it not, he has a right to look to you and to hold 
you responsible for all the good you might do, did you possess 
it. You are sinning against all heaven, for you ought to be 
adding to their happy ranks. Sinners, the church, ministers, 
have a right to complain. 

4. You are right in the way of the work of the Lord. It is 
in vain for a minister to try to work over your head. Ministers 
often groan and struggle, and wear themselves out in vain, try¬ 
ing to do good where there is a church who live so that they 
do not have the Spirit of God. If the Spirit is poured out at any 
time, the church will grieve him right away. Thus you may 
tie the hands and break the heart of your minister, and break 
him down, and perhaps kill him, because you will not be filled 
with the Spirit. 



112 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


5. You see the reason why Christians need the Spirit, and 
the degree of their dependence. This cannot be too strongly 
exhibited. 

6. Do not tempt God, by waiting for his Spirit, while using 
no means to procure his presence. , 

7. If you mean to have the Spirit, you must be childlike, and 
yield to his influences—just as yielding as air. If he is draw¬ 
ing you to prayer, you must quit every thing to yield to his 
gentle strivings. No doubt you have sometimes felt a desire to 
pray for some object, and you have put it off and resisted, and 
God left you. If you wish him to remain, you must yield to his 
softest and gentlest motions, and watch to learn what he would 
have you do, and yield yourself up to his guidance. 

8. Christians ought to be willing to make any sacrifice to 
enjoy the presence of the Spirit. Said a woman in high life, a 
professor of religion, “ I must either give up hearing such a 
minister (naming him) preach, or I must give up my gay com¬ 
pany.” She gave up the preaching and staid away. How dif¬ 
ferent from another case! 

A woman in the same rank of life heard the same minister 
preach, and went home resolved to abandon her gay and 
worldly manner of life—dismissed most of her attendants— 
changed her whole mode of dress, of equipage, of living, and of 
conversation; so that her gay and worldly friends were soon 
willing to leave her to the enjoyment of communion with God, 
and free to spend her time in doing good. 

9. You see from this, that it mu^t be very difficult for those 
in fashionable life to go to heaven. What a calamity to be in 
such circles ! Who can enjoy the presence of God in them? 

10. See how crazy those are who are scrambling to get up to 
these circles, enlarging their houses, changing their style of 
living, furniture, &c. It is like climbing up mast-head to be 
thrown off into the ocean. To enjoy God, you must come down, 
not go up there. God is not there, among all the starch and 
flattery of hell. 

11. Many professors of religion are as ignorant of spiritual¬ 
ity as Nicodemus was of the new birth. They are ignorant, 
and I fear unconverted. If any body talks to them about the 
spirit of prayer, it is all algebra to them. The case of such 
professors is awful. How different was the character of the 
apostles !. Read the history of their lives, read their letters, and 
you will see that they were always spiritual, and walked daily 
with God. But now how little is there of such religion! 
“ When the Son of Man cometh, will he find faith on the 


BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 


113 


earth?” Set some of these professors to work in a revival, and 
they don’t know what tc do, have no energy, no skill, and make 
no impression. When will professors of religion set themselves 
to work, filled with the Spirit ? If I could see this church filled 
with the Spirit, I would ask nothing more to move this whole 
mighty mass of minds. Not two weeks would pass before the 
revival would spread all over this city. 



LECTURE VIII. 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 

Text. —Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as 
touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father 
which is in heaven.— Matthew xviii. 19. 

Hitherto, in treating of the subject of Prayer, I have con¬ 
fined my remarks to secret prayer. I am now to speak of social 
prayer, or prayer offered in company, where two or more are 
united in praying. Such meetings have been common from 
the time of Christ, and even hundreds of years before. And it 
is probable that God’s people have always been in the habit of 
making united supplication, whenever they had the privilege. 
The propriety of the practice will not be questioned here. I 
need not dwell now on the duty of social prayer. Nor is it my 
design to discuss the question, whether - any two Christians 
agreeing to ask any blessing, will be sure to obtain it. My ob¬ 
ject is to make some remarks on 

MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 

I. The design of Prayer Meetings. 

II. The manner of conducting them. 

III. Mention several things that will defeat the design of 
holding them. 

I. THE DESIGN OF PRAYER MEETINGS. 

1. One design of assembling several persons together for 
united prayer, is to promote union'among Christians. Nothing 
tends more to cement the hearts of Christians than praying to¬ 
gether. Never do they love one another so well as when they 
witness the outpouring of each other’s hearts in prayer. Their 
spirituality begets a feeling of union and confidence, highly im¬ 
portant to the prosperity of the church. It is doubtful whether 
Christians can ever be otherwise than united, if they are in the 
habit of really praying together. And where • they have had 
hard feelings and differences among themselves, they are all 
done away, by uniting in prayer. The great object is gained, 
if you can bring them really to unite in prayer. If this can be 
done, the difficulties vanish. 






MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


115 


2. To extend the spirit of prayer. God has so constituted us, 
and such is the economy of his grace, that we are sympathetic 
beings, and communicate our feelings to each other. A minis¬ 
ter, for instance, will often as it were breathe his own feelings 
into his congregation. The Spirit of God that inspires his soul, 
makes use of his feelings to influence his hearers, just as much 
as he makes use of the words he preaches. So he makes use 
of the feelings of Christians. Nothing is more calculated to 
beget a spirit of prayer, than to unite in social prayer, with one 
who has the spirit himself; unless this one should be so far 
ahead that his prayer will repel the rest. His prayer will 
awaken them, if they are not so far behind, as to revolt at it and 
resist it. If they are any where near the standard of his feel¬ 
ings, his spirit will kindle, and burn, and spread all around.— 
One individual in a church, that obtains a spirit of prayer, will 
often arouse a whole church, and extend the same spirit through 
the whole, and a general revival follows. 

3. Another grand design of social prayer, is to move God. 
Not that it changes the mind and feelings of God. When we 
speak of moving God, as I have said in a former lecture, we do not 
mean that it alters the will of God. But when the right kind of 
prayer is offered by Christians, they are in such a state of mind, 
that it becomes proper for God to bestow a blessing. They are 
then prepared to receive it, and he gives because he is always 
the same, and always ready and happy to show mercy. When 
Christians are united, and praying as they ought, God opens the 
windows of heaven, and pours out his blessings, till there is not 
room to receive them. 

4. Another important design of prayer meetings is the con 
viction and conversion of sinners. When properly conducted, 
they are eminently calculated to produce this effect. Sinners 
are apt to be solemn, when they hear Christians pray. Where 
there is a spirit of prayer, sinners must feel. An ungodly man, 
a Universalist, once said respecting a certain minister, “ I can 
bear his preaching very well, but when he prays, I feel awfully; 
I feel as if God was coming down upon me.” Sinners are often 
convicted by hearing prayer. A young man of distinguished 
talents, known to many of you, said concerning a certain minister 
to whom before his conversion he had been very much opposed, 
“As soon as he began to pray, I began to be convicted, and if he 
had continued to pray much longer, I should not have been able 
to contain myself.” Just as soon as Christians begin to pray as 
they ought, sinners then know that they pray, and they feel 
awfully. They don’t understand what spirituality is, because 



116 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


they have no experience of it. But when such prayer is offered, 
they know there is something in it; they know God is in it, and 
it brings them near to God ; it makes them feel awfully solemn, 
gnd they cannot bear it. And not only is it calculated to impress 
the minds of sinners, but when Christians pray in faith, the Spirit 
of God is poured out, and sinners are melted down and con¬ 
verted on the spot. 

II. THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING PRAYER MEETINGS. 

1. It is often well to open a prayer meeting by reading a 
short portion of the word of God ; especially if the person who 
takes the lead of the meeting, can call to mind any portion that 
will be applicable to the object or occasion, and that is impres¬ 
sive, and to the point. If he has no passage that is applicable, 
he had better not read any at all. Do not drag in the word of 
God to make up part of the meeting as a mere matter of form. 
This is an insult to God. It is not well to read any more than 
is applicable to the subject before the meeting, or the occasion. 
Some people think it always necessary to read a whole chapter, 
though it may be ever so long, and have a variety of subjects. 
It is just as impressive and judicious to read a whole chapter, as 
it would be for a minister to take a whole chapter for his text, 
when his object was to make some particular truth bear on the 
minds of his audience. The design of a prayer meeting should 
be to bring Christians to the point, to pray for a definite object. 
Wandering over a large field, hinders and destroys this design. 

2. It is proper that the person who leads should make some 
short and appropriate remarks, calculated to explain the nature 
of prayer, and the encouragements we have to pray, and to bring 
the object to be 'prayed for , directly before the minds of the 
people. 

A man can no more pray without having his thoughts con¬ 
centrated, than he can do any thing else. The person leading, 
should therefore see to this, by bringing up before their minds 
the object they came to pray for. If they came to pray for any 
object he can do this. And if they did not, they had better go 
home. It is of no use to stay there and mock God, by pretend¬ 
ing to pray, when they have nothing on earth to pray for. 

After stating the object, he should bring up some promise or 
some principle, as the ground of encouragement to expect an 
answer to their prayers. If there is any indication of Provi¬ 
dence, or any promise, or any principle in the Divine govern¬ 
ment, that affords a ground of faith, let him call it to mind, and 
not let them be talking out of their own hearts at random, with- 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


117 


out knowing any solid reason to expect an answer. One reason 
why prayer meetings mostly accomplish so little, is because there 
is so little common sense exercised about them. Instead of 
Tooking round for some solid footing on which to repose their 
faith, they just come together and pour forth their words, and 
neither know nor care whether they have any reason to expect 
an answer. If they are going to pray about any thing concern¬ 
ing which there can be any doubt or any mistake, in regard to 
the ground of faith, they should be shown the reason there is for 
believing that their prayers will be heard and answered. It is 
easy to see, that unless something like this is done, three fourths 
of them will have no idea of what they are doing, or of the 
ground on which they should expect to receive what they 
pray for. 

3. In calling on persons to pray it is always desirable to let 
things take their own course, wherever it is safe. If it can be 
left so with safety, let those pray who are most inclined to pray. 
It sometimes happens that even those who are ordinarily the 
most spiritual, and most proper to be called on, are not at the 
time in a suitable frame; they may be cold and worldly, and 
only freeze the meeting. But if you let those pray, who desire 
to pray, you avoid this. But often this cannot be done wjjh 
safety, especially in large cities, where a prayer meeting might 
be liable to be interrupted by those who have no business to pray; 
some fanatic or crazy person, some hypocrite or enemy, who 
would only make a noise. In most places, however, this course 
may be taken with perfect safety. Give up the meeting to the 
Spirit of God. Those who desire to pray, let them pray. If 
the leader sees any thing that needs to be set right, let him re¬ 
mark, freely and kindly, and put it right, and then go on again. 
Only, he should be careful to time his remarks, so as not to in¬ 
terrupt the flow of feeling, or to chill the meeting, or turn off 
the minds from the proper subject. 

4. If it is necessary to name the individuals who are to pray, 
it is best to call on those who are most spiritual first. And if 
you do not know who they are, then those whom you would na¬ 
turally suppose to be most alive. If they pray at the outset, 
they will be likely to spread the spirit of prayer through the 
meeting, and elevate the tone of the whole. Otherwise, if you 
call on those who are cold and lifeless at the beginning, they 
will be likely to diffuse a chill throughout the meetirtg. The 
only hope of having- an efficient prayer meeting is when at 
least a part of the church is spiritual, and they infuse their spirit 
into the rest. This is the very reason why it is often best to let 



118 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER, 


things take their course, for then those who have the most feel¬ 
ing are apt to pray first, and give character to the meeting. 

5. The prayers should always be very short .—When indi¬ 
viduals suffer themselves to pray long, they forget where they 
are, that they are only the mouth of the congregation, and that 
the congregation cannot be expected to sympathise with them, so 
as to go along and feel united in prayer, if they are long and 
tedious, and go all around the world, and pray for every thing 
they can think of. Commonly, those who pray long in meeting, 
do it not because they have the spirit of prayer, but because 
they have not. And they go round and round, not because they 
are full of prayer. Some men will spin out a long prayer in 
telling God who and what he is, or they exhort God to do so and 
so.—Some pray out a whole system of divinity. Some preach, 
some exhort the people, till every body wishes they would stop, 
and God wishes so too, undoubtedly. They should keep to the 
point, and pray for what they came to pray for, and not follow 
the imagination of their own foolish hearts all over the universe. 

6. Each one should pray for some one object .—It is well for 
every individual to have one object for prayer: two or more may 
pray for the same thing, or each a separate object. If the meet¬ 
ing is convened to pray for some specific thing, let them all 
pray for that. If its object is more general, let them select 
their subjects, according as they feel interested in them. If one 
feels particularly disposed to pray for the church, let him do it. 
If the next feels disposed to pray for the church, he may do so 
too. Perhaps the next will feel inclined to pray for sinners, for 
the youth, to confess sin; let him do it, and as soon as he has 
got through, let him stop. Whenever a man has deep feeling, 
he always feels on some particular point, and if he prays for 
that, he will speak out of the abundance of his heart, and then 
he will naturally stop when he is done. Those who feel most, 
will be most ready to confine their prayers to that point, and 
stop when they have done, and not pray all over the world. 

7. If in the progress of the meeting it becomes necessary to 
change the object of prayer, let the maa who leads state the 
fact, and explain it in a few words. If the object is to pray for 
the church, or for backsliders, or sinners, or the heathen, let 
him state it plainly, and then turn it over and hold it up before 
them, till he brings them to think and feel deeply before they 
pray. Then state to them the grounds on which they may re¬ 
pose their faith in regard to obtaining the blessings they pray for, 
if any such statement is needed, and so lead them right up to the 
throne, and let them take hold of the hand of God. This is 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


119 


according to the philosophy of the mind. People always do it 
for themselves, when they pray in secret, If they really mean to 
pray to any purpose. And so it should be in prayer meetings. 

8. It is important that the time should he fully occupied, so as 
not to leave long seasons of silence. This always makes a bad 
impression, and chills the meeting. I know that sometimes 
churches have seasons of silent prayer. But in those cases 
they should be specially requested to pray in silence, so that all 
may know why they are silent. This often has a most power¬ 
ful effect, where a few moments are spent by a whole congre¬ 
gation in silence, while all lift up their thoughts to God. This 
is very different from having long intervals of silence because 
there is nobody to pray. Every one feels that such a silence 
is like the fold damp of death over the meeting. 

9. It is exceedingly important that he who leads the meeting 
should press sinners who may be present, to immediate repent¬ 
ance. He should crowd this hard, and urge the Christians 
present to pray in such a way as to make sinners feel that they 
are expected to repent immediately. This tends to inspire 
Christians with compassion and love for souls. The remarks 
made- to sinners are often like pouring fire upon the hearts of 
Christians, to awaken them to prayer and effort for their con¬ 
version. Let them see and feel the guilt and danger of sinners 
right among them, and then they will pray. 

III. I am to mention several things, which may defeat the 
design of a prayer meeting. 

1. When there is an unhappy want of confidence in the * 
leader, there is no hope of any good. Whatever the cause may 
be, whether he is to blame or not, the very fact that he leads 
the meeting will cast a damp over it, and prevent all good. 1 
have witnessed it in churches, where there was some offensive 
elder or deacon, perhaps justly offensive and perhaps not, set to 
lead the prayer meeting, and the meeting would all die under 
his influence. If there is a wdnt of confidence in regard to his 
piety, or in his ability, or in his judgment, or in any thing con¬ 
nected with the meeting, every thing he says or does will fall to 
the ground. The same thing often takes place, where the 
church have lost their confidence in the minister. 

2. Where the leader lacks spirituality , there will be a dry¬ 
ness and coldness in his remarks and prayers, and every thing 
will indicate his want of unction, and his whole influence will 
be the very reverse of what it ought to be. I have known 
churches where a prayer meeting could not be sustained, and 
the reason was not obvious but those who understood the state 


120 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


of things knew that the leader was so notorious for his want of 
spirituality, that he would inevitably freeze a prayer meeting 
to death. In many Presbyterian churches, the elders are so far 
from being spiritual men, that they always freeze a prayer 
meeting. And then they are often amazingly jealous for their 
dignity, and can’t bear to have any body else lead the meet¬ 
ing. And if any member that is spiritual takes the lead of a 
prayer meeting, they will take him to task for it: “ Why, you 
are not an elder, and ought not to lead a prayer meeting in 
presence of an elder.” And thus they stand in the way, while 
the whole church is suffering under their blighting influence. 

A man who knows he is not in a spiritual frame of mind has 
no business to conduct a prayer meeting; he will kill it. There 
are two reasons.—First, he will have no spiritual discernment , 
and will not know what to do, or when to do it. A person who 
is spiritual can see the movements of Providence, and can feel 
the Spirit of God,*and understand what he is leading them to 
pray for, so as to time his subjects, and take advantage of the 
state of feeling, among Christians. He will not overthrow all 
the feeling in a meeting, by introducing other things that are 
incongruous or ill-timed. He has spiritual discernment to 
understand the leadings of the Spirit, and his workings in those 
who pray, and to follow on as the Spirit leads. Suppose an 
individual leads, who is not spiritual, and there are two or three 
prayers, and the spirit of prayer rises, but the leader has no 
spiritual discernment to see it, and he makes some remarks on 
another point, or reads a piece out of some book, that is as far 
from the feeling of the meeting as the north pole. It may be 
just as evident to others what they are called to pray for, as if 
the Son of God himself had come into the meeting and named 
the subject; but the leader will overthrow it all, because he is 
so stupid that he does not know the indications of the meeting. 

And then, if the leader is not spiritual, he will very likely be 
dull and dry in his remarks, and in all his exercises. He will 
read a long hymn in a dreamy manner, and then read a long 
passage of Scripture, in a tone so cold and wintry, that he will 
spread a wintry pall over the meeting, and it will be dull, as 
long as his cold heart is placed up in front of the whole thing. 

3. A want of suitable talents in the leader. If he is wanting 
in that kind of talents which are fitted to make a meeting useful, 
he will injure the meeting. If he can say nothing, or if his 
remarks are so out of the way as to produce levity or con¬ 
tempt, or if they have nothing in them that will impress 
the mind, or are not guided by good sense, or not appropriate, 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


121 


he will injure the meeting. A man may he pious, but so weak 
that his prayers do not edify, but rather disgust the people pre¬ 
sent. When this is so, he had better keep silence. 

4. Sometimes the benefit of a prayer meeting is defeated by 
a bad spirit in the leader. For instance, when there is a revival, 
and great opposition, if a leader gets up in a prayer meeting 
and speaks of instances of opposition, and comments upon them, 
and thus diverts the meeting away from the object they come 
to pray for, he knows not what spirit he is of. Its effect is always 
ruinous to a prayer meeting. Let a minister in a revival come 
out and preach against the opposition, and he will infallibly de¬ 
stroy the revival, and turn the hearts of Christians away from 
their proper object. Let the man who is set to lead the church 
be careful to guard his own spirit, lest he should mislead the 
church, and diffuse a wrong temper. The same will be true, 
if any one who is called upon to speak or pray, introduces in 
his remarks or prayers any thing controversial, impertinent, 
unreasonable, unscriptural, ridiculous or irrelevant. Any of 
these things will quench the tender breathings of the spirit of 
prayer, and destroy the meeting. 

5. Persons coming late to the meeting. This is a very great 
hinderance to a prayer meeting. When people have begun to 
pray, and their attention is fixed, and they have shut their eyes 
and closed their ears, to keep out every thing from their minds, 
in the midst of a prayer somebody will come bolting in and walk 
up through the room. Some will look up, and all have their 
minds interrupted for the moment. Then they all get fixed again, 
and another comes in, and so on. Why, I suppose the devil 
would not care how many Christians went to a prayer meeting, 
if they will only go after the meeting is begun. He would be 
glad to have ever so many go scattering along so, and dodging 
in very piously after the meeting is begun. 

6. When persons make cold prayers, and cold confessions of 
sin, they are sure to quench the spirit of prayer. When the 
influences of the Spirit are enjoyed, in the midst of the warm 
expressions that are flowing forth, let an individual come in who 
is cold, and pour his cold breath out, like the damp of death, 
and it will make every Christian that has any feeling want to 
get out of the meeting. 

7. In some places it is common to begin a prayer meeting by 
reading a long portion of Scripture. Then the deacon or elder 
gives out a long hymn. Next, they sing k. Then he prays a 
long prayer, praying for the Jews and the fullness of the Gen¬ 
tiles, and many other objects that have nothing to do wit^ *he 


122 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


occasion of the meeting. After that perhaps he reads a long 
extract from some book or magazine. Then they have another 
long hymn and another long prayer, and then they go home. I 
once heard an elder say, they had kept up a prayer meeting so 
many years, and yet there had been no revival in the place. 
The truth was, that the officers of the church had been accus¬ 
tomed to carry on the meetings in just such a dignified way, and 
their dignity would not allow any thing to be altered. No won¬ 
der there was no revival. Such prayer meetings are enough 
to hinder a revival. And if ever so many revivals should com¬ 
mence, the prayer meeting would destroy them. There was a 
prayer meeting once in this city, as I have been told, where 
there appeared to be some feeling, and some one proposed that 
they should have two or three prayers in succession, without 
rising from their knees. One dignified man present opposed it, 
and said that they never had done so, and he hoped there would 
be no innovations. He did not approve of innovations. And that 
was the last of the revival. Such persons have their prayer 
meetings stereotyped, and they are determined not to turn out 
of their track, whether they have the blessing or not. To allow 
any such thing would be a new measure, and they never like 
new measures. 

8. A great deal of singing often injures a prayer meeting. 
The agonizing spirit of prayer does not lead people to sing. 
There is a time for every thing; a time to sing, and a time to 
pray. But if I know what it is to travail in birth for souls, 
Christians never feel less like it, than when they have the spirit 
of prayer for sinners. Singing is the natural expression of 
feelings that are joyful and cheerful. The spirit of prayer is 
not a spirit of joy. It is a spirit of travail, and agony of soul, 
supplicating and pleading with God with strong cryings, and 
groanings that cannot be uttered. This is more like any thing 
else than it is like singing. I have know r n states of feeling, 
where you could not distress the people of God more than to 
begin to sing. It would be so entirely different from their feel¬ 
ings. Why, if you knew your house was on fire, would you 
first stop and sing a hymn before you put it out? How would 
it look here in New York, when a building was on fire, and 
the firemen are all collected, for the foreman to stop and sing a 
hymn ? It is just about as natural for the people to sing -when 
exercised with a spirit of prayer. When people feel like pulling 
men out of the fire, they don’t feel like singing. I never knew 
a singing revival amount to much. Its tendency is to do away 
all deep feeling. It is true that singing a hymn has sometimes 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


123 


produced a powerful effect upon sinners who are convicted, but 
in general it is the perfect contrast there is between their feel¬ 
ings and those of the happy souls who sing, that produces the 
effect. If the hymn be of a joyful character it is not directly 
calculated to benefit sinners, and is highly fitted to relieve the 
mental anguish of the Christian, so as to destroy that travail of 
soul which is indispensable to his prevailing in prayer. 

When singing is introduced in a prayer meeting, the hymns 
should be short, and so selected as to bring out something sol¬ 
emn; some striking words, such as the Judgment Hymn, and 
others calculated to produce an effect on sinners; or something 
that will produce a deep impression on the minds of Christians; 
but not that joyful kind of singing, that makes every body feel 
comfortable, and turns off the mind from the object of the prayer 
meeting. 

I once heard a celebrated organist produce a remarkable effect 
in a protracted meeting. The organ was a powerful one, and 
the double bass pipes were like thunder. The hymn was given 
out that has these lines: 


See the storm of vengeance gathering 
O’er the path you dare to tread ; 




When he came to these words, we first heard the distant roar 
of thunder, then it grew nearer and louder, till at the word 
“ louder,” there was a crash that seemed almost to overpower 
the whole congregation. 

Such things in their proper place do good. But common 
singing dissipates feeling. It should always be such as not to 
take away feeling, but to deepen it. 

Often a prayer meeting is injured by calling on the young 
converts to sing joyful hymns. This is highly improper in a 
prayer meeting. It is no time for them to let feeling flow away 
in joyful singing, while so many sinners around them, and their 
own former companions, are going down to hell. A revival is 
often put down by the church and minister all giving themselves 
up to singing with young converts. Thus by stopping to rejoice, 
when they ought to feel more and more deeply for sinners, they 
grieve away the Spirit of God, and they soon find that their 
agony and travail of soul are all gone. 

9. Introducing subjects of controversy into prayer will defeat 
a prayer meeting. Nothing of a controversial nature should 
be introduced into prayer, unless it is the object of the meeting 
to settle that thing. Otherwise, let Christians come together in 


124 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


their prayer meetings, on the broad ground of offering united 
prayer for a common object. And let controversies be settled 
somewhere else. 

10. Great pains should be taken, both by the leader and 
others, to watch narrowly the motions of the Spirit of Gocl. 
Let them not pray without the Spirit, but follow his leadings. 
Be sure not to quench the Spirit for the sake of praying ac¬ 
cording to the regular custom. Avoid every thing calculated 
to divert attention away from the object. All affectation, of 
feeling that is not real, should be particularly guarded against. 
If there is an affectation of feeling, most commonly others see 
and feel that it is affectation, not reality. At any rate, the 
Spirit of God knows it, and will be grieved, and leave the 
place. On the other hand, all resistance to the Spirit will 
equally destroy the meeting. Not unfrequently it happens, 
that there are some so cold that if any one should break out in 
the spirit of prayer, they would call it fanaticism, and perhaps 
break out in opposition. 

11. If individuals refuse to pray when they are called on it 
injures a prayer meeting. There are some people, who always 
pretend they have no gifts. Women sometimes refuse to take 
their turn in prayer, and pretend they have not ability to pray. 
But if any one else should say so, they would be offended. Sup¬ 
pose they should know that any other person had made such a 
remark as this, “ Don’t ask her to pray, she can’t pray, she has 
not talents enough;” would they like it? So with a man who 
pretends he has no gifts, let any one else report that he has not 
talents enough to make a decent prayer, and see if he will like 
it. The pretence is not sincere ; it is all a sham. 

Some say they cannot pray in their families, they have no 
gift. But a person could not offend them more than to say they 
cannot pray a decent prayer before their own families. They 
would say, “ Why, the man talks as if he thought nobody else 
had any gifts but himself.” People are not apt to have such a 
low opinion of themselves. I have often seen the curse of God 
follow such professors. They have no excuse. God will take 
none. The man has got a tongue to talk to his neighbors, and 
he can talk to God if he has any heart for it. You will see 
their children unconverted, their son a curse, their daughter— 
tongue cannot tell. God says he will pour out his fury on the 
families that call not on his name. If I had time, I could men¬ 
tion a host of facts to show that God MARKS those indivi¬ 
duals with his disapprobation and curse who refuse to pray 
when they ought. Until professors of religion will repent of 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


125 


this sin and take up the cross (if they choose to call praying a 
cross !) and do their duty, they need not expect a blessing. 

12. Prayer meetings are often too long . They should al¬ 
ways be dismissed while Christians have feeling, and not be 
spun out until all feeling is exhausted, and the spirit is gone. 

13. Heartless confessions. People confess their sins and 
don’t forsake them. Every week they will make the same 
confession over again. A long, cold, dull, stupid confession this 
week, and then the next week another just like it, without for¬ 
saking any sins. Why, they have no intention to forsake their 
sins ! It shows plainly that they do not mean to reform. All 
their religion consists in these confessions. Instead of getting 
a blessing from God by such confessions they will get only a 
curse. 

14. When Christians spend all the time in praying for them¬ 
selves. They should have done this in their closets. When 
they come to a prayer meeting, they should be prepared to offer 
effectual intercessions for others. If Christians pray in their 
closets as they ought, they will feel like praying for sinners. 
If they pray exclusively in their closets for themselves, they 
will not get the spirit of prayer. I have known men shut 
themselves up for days to pray for themselves, and never get any 
life, because their prayers are all selfish. But if they will just 
forget themselves, ana throw their hearts abroad, and pray for 
others, it will wake up such a feeling, that they can pour forth 
their hearts. And then they can go to work for souls. I knew 
an individual in a revival, who shut himself up seventeen days, 
and prayed as if he would have God come to his terms, but it 
would not do, and then he went out to work, and immediately 
he had the Spirit of God in his soul. It is well for Christians 
to pray for themselves, and confess their sins, and then throw 
their hearts abroad, till they feel as they ought. 

15. Prayer meetings are often defeated by the want of ap' 
propriate remarks. The things are not said which are calcu¬ 
lated to lead them to pray. Perhaps the leader has not prepared 
himself; or perhaps he has not the requisite talents, to lead the 
church out in prayer, or he does not lead their minds to dwell 
on the appropriate topics of prayer. 

16. When individuals who are justly obnoxious for any cause, 
are forward in speaking and praying. Such persons are some¬ 
times very much set upon taking a part. They say it is their 
duty to get up and testify for God on all occasions. They will 
say, they know they are not able to edify thq church, but nobody 
else can do their duty, and they wish to testify. Perhaps the 


126 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


only place they ever did testify for God , was in a paryer meet¬ 
ing; all their lives, out of the meeting, testify against God.— 
They had better keep still. 

17. Where persons take a part who are so illiterate that it is 
impossible persons of taste should not be disgusted. Persons 
of intelligence cannot follow them, and their minds are una¬ 
voidably diverted. I do not mean that it is necessary a person 
should have a liberal education in order to lead in prayer. All 
persons of common education, especially if they are in the habit 
of praying, can lead in prayer, if they have the spirit of prayer. 
But there are some persons who use such absurd and illiterate 
expressions, as cannot but disgust every intelligent mind. They 
cannot help being disgusted. The feeling of disgust is an in¬ 
voluntary thing, and when a disgusting object is before the mind, 
the feeling is irresistible. Piety will not keep a person from 
feeling it. The only way is to take away the object. If such 
persons mean to do good, they had better remain silent. Some 
of them may feel grieved at not being called to take a part. But 
it is better that they should be kindly told the reason than to have 
the prayer meeting regularly injured, and rendered ridiculous 
by their performances. 

18. A want of union in prayer. When one leads the others do 
not follow, but are thinking of something else. Their hearts 
do not unite, do not say, Amen. It is as bad as if one should 
make a petition and another remonstrate against it. One asks 
God to do a thing, and the others ask him not to do it, or to do 
something else. 

19. Neglect of secret prayer. Christians who do not pray 
in secret, cannot unite with power in a prayer meeting, and 
cannot have the spirit of prayer. 

REMARKS. 

1. An illy conducted prayer meeting often does more hurt 
than good. In many churches, the general manner of conduct¬ 
ing prayer meetings is such that Christians have not the least 
idea of the design or the power of such meetings. It is such 
as tends to keep down rather than to promote pious feeling and 
the spirit of prayer. 

2. A prayer meeting is an index to the state of religion in a 
church. If the church neglect the prayer meetings, or come 
and have not the spirit of prayer, you know of course that reli¬ 
gion is low. Let me go into the prayer meeting, and I can 
always see the state of religion there. 

3. Every minister ought to know that if the prayer meet- 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


127 


mgs are neglected, all his labors are in vain. Unless he can 
get Christians to attend the prayer meetings, all he can do will 
not bring up the true religion. 

4. A great responsibility rests on him who leads a prayer 
meeting. If the prayer meeting be not what it ought to be, 
if it does not elevate the state of religion, he should go seriously 
to work and see what is the matter, and get the spirit of prayer, 
and prepare himself to make such remarks as are calculated to 
do good and set things right. A leader has no business to lead 
prayer meetings, if he is not prepared, both in head and heart, 
to do this. I wish you, who lead the district prayer meetings 
of this church, to notice this point. 

5. Prayer meetings are the most difficult meetings to sustain 
as they ought to be. They are so spiritual, that unless the 
leader be peculiarly prepared, both in heart and mind, they will 
dwindle. It is in vain for the leader to complain that members 
of the church do not attend. In nine cases out of ten, it is the 
leader’s fault, that they do not attend. If he felt as he ought, 
they would find the meetings so interesting, that they would 
attend of course. If he is so cold, and dull, and without spiritu¬ 
ality, as to freeze every thing, no wonder people don’t come to 
the meeting. Church officers often complain and scold because 
people don’t come to the prayer meeting, when the truth is, 
they themselves are so cold that they freeze every body to death 
that comes. 

6. Prayer meetings are most important meetings for the 
church. It is highly important for Christians to sustain the 
prayer meetings:— 

(1.) To promote union. 

(2.) To increase brotherly love. 

(3.) To cultivate Christian confidence. 

(4.) To promote their own growth in grace. 

(5.) To cherish and advance spirituality. 

7. Prayer meetings should be so numerous in the church, 
and be so arranged, as to exercise the gifts of every individual 
member of the chifroh—male and female. Every one should 
have the opportunity to pray, and to express the feelings of his 
heart, if he has any. The sectional prayer meetings of this 
church are designed to do this. And if they are too large for 
this, let them be divided, so as to bring the entire mass into the 
work, to exercise all gifts, and diffuse union, confidence, and 
brotherly love through the whole. 

8. It is important that impenitent sinners should always 
attend prayer meetings. If none come of their own accord, 


128 


MEETINGS FOR PRAYER. 


go out and invite them. Christians ought to take great pains 
to induce their impenitent friends and neighbors to come to 
prayer meetings. They can pray better for impenitent sin¬ 
ners when they have them right before their eyes. I have 
known lemale prayer meetings exclude sinners from the 
meeting. And the reason was, they were so proud they were 
ashamed to pray before sinners. What a spirit! Such pray¬ 
ers will do no good. They insult God. You have not done 
enough, by any means, when you have gone to the prayer 
meeting yourself. You can’t pray, if you have invited no 
sinner to go. If all the church have neglected their duty so, 
and have gone to the prayer meeting, and taken no sinners 
along with them, no subjects of prayer—what have they come 
for ? 

9. The great object of all the means of grace is to aim di¬ 
rectly at the conversion of sinners. You should pray that they 
may be converted there. Not pray that they may be awakened 
and convicted, but.pray that they may be converted on the spot. 
No one should either pray or make any remarks, as if he ex¬ 
pected a single sinner would go away without giving his heart 
to God. You should all make the impression on his mind, 
that NOW he must submit. And if you do this, while you are 
yet speaking God will hear. If Christians make it manifest 
that they have really set their hearts on the conversion of sin¬ 
ners, and are bent upon it, and pray as they ought, there would 
rarely be a prayer meeting held without souls being converted, 
and sometimes every sinner in the room. That is the very 
time, if ever, that sinners should be converted in answer to 
those prayers. I do not doubt but that you may have sinners 
converted in every sectional prayer meeting, if you do your 
duty. Take them there, take your families, your friends, or 
your neighbors there with that design, give them the proper in¬ 
struction, if they need instruction, and pray for them as you 
ought, and you will save their souls. Rely upon it, if vou do 
your duty, in a right manner, God will not keep back his bless¬ 
ing, and the work will be done. 


LECTURE IX. 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


Text.—“ Ye are my witnesses, sfiith the Lord, and my servant whom I 
have chosen. —Isaiah xliii: 10. 

In the text it is affirmed of the children of God, that they are 
his witnesses. In several preceding lectures I have been 
dwelling on the subject of Prayer, or that department of means 
for the promotion of a revival, which is intended to move God 
to pour out his Spirit. I am now to commence the other de¬ 
partment : 

MEANS TO BE USED FOR THE CONVICTION AND CONVERSION 

OF SINNERS. 

It is true, in general, that persons are affected by the subject of 
religion, in proportion to their conviction of its truth. Inatten¬ 
tion to religion is the great reason why so little is felt concerning 
it. No being ran look at the great truths of religion, as truths , 
and not feel deeply concerning them. The devil cannot. He 
feels and trembles. Angels in heaven feel in view of these 
things. God feels. An intellectual conviction of truth, is always 
accompanied with feeling of some kind. 

One grand design of God in leaving Christians in the world 
after their conversion, is that they may be witnesses for Gocl. It 
is that they may call the attention of the thoughtless multitude 
to the subject, and make them see the difference in the character 
and destiny of those who believe and those who reject the gos¬ 
pel. This inattention is the grand difficulty in the way of pro¬ 
moting religion. And what the Spirit of God does is to awaken 
the attention of men to the subject of their sirrand the plan of 
salvation. Miracles have sometimes been employed to arrest 
the attention of sinners. And in this way, miracles may be¬ 
come instrumental in conversion, although conversion is not 
itself a miracle, nor do miracles themselves ever convert any 
body. They may be the means of awakening. Miracles are 
not always effectual even in that. And if continued or made 
common, they would soon lose their power. What is wanted in 
the world is something that can be a sort of omnipresent miracle, 
able not only to arrest attention but to fix it, and keep the mind 
in warm contact with the truth, till it yields. 


330 MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 

Hence we see why God has scattered his children every where, 
in families and among the nations. He never would suffer 
them to be all together in one place, however agreeable it might 
be to their feelings. He wishes them scattered. When the 
church at Jerusalem herded together, neglecting to go forth as 
Christ had commanded, to spread the gospel all over the world, 
God let loose a persecution upon them and scattered them abroad, 
and then “ they went every where preaching the gospel.” In 
examining the text, I purpose to inquire, 

I. To what particular points Christians are to testify for God. 

II. The manner in which they are to testify. 

1. To what points are the children of God required to testify ? 

Generally , they are to testify to the truth of the Bible. They 
are competent witnesses to this, for they have experience of its 
truth. The experimental Christian has no more need of exter¬ 
nal evidence to prove the truth of the Bible to his mind, than 
he has to prove his own existence. The whole plan of salva¬ 
tion is so fully spread out and settled in his conviction, that to 
undertake to reason him out of his belief in the Bible would be 
a thing as impracticable as to reason him out of the belief in 
his own existence. Men have tried to awaken a doubt of the 
existence of the material world. But they cannot succeed. No 
man can doubt the existence of a material world. To doubt it, 
is against his own consciousness. You may use arguments that 
he cannot answer, and may puzzle and perplex him, and shut 
up his mouth ; he may be no logician or philosopher, and unable 
to detect your fallacies. But what he knows he knows. 

So it is in religion. The Christian is conscious that the 
Bible is true. The veriest child in religion knows by his ex¬ 
perience the truth of the Bible. He may hear objections from 
infidels, that he never thought of, and that he cannot answer, 
and he may be confounded, but he cannot be driven from his 
ground. He will say, “ I cannot answer you, but I know the 
Bible is true.” • 

As if a man should look in a mirror, and say, “ That’s my 
face.” How do you know it is your face? “Why, by its 
looks.” So when a Christian sees himself drawn and pictured 
forth in the Bible, he sees the likeness to be so exact, that he 
knows it is true. But more particularly, Christians are to tes¬ 
tify— 

1. To the immortality of the soul. This is clearly revealed 
in the Bible. 

‘2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of all earthly good. 

3. The satisfying nature and glorious sufficiency of religion. 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


131 


4. The guilt and danger of sinners. On this point they can 
speak from experience as well as the word of God. They have 
seen their own sins, and they understand more of the nature of 
sin, and the guilt and danger of sinners. 

5. The reality of hell, as a place of eternal punishment for 
the wicked. 

6. The love of Christ for sinners. 

7. The necessity of a holy life, if we think of ever getting to 
heaven. 

8. The necessity of self-denial, and living above the world. 

9. •The necessity of meekness, heavenly-mindedness, humility, 
and integrity. 

10. The necessity of an entire renovation of character and 
life, for all who would enter heaven. These are the subjects 
on which they are to be witnesses for God. And they are 
bound to testify in such a way as to constrain men to believe 
the truth. 

11. How are they to testify ? 

By 'precept and example , on every proper occasion, by their 
lips, but mainly by their lives. Christians have no right to be 
silent with their lips; they should rebuke, exhort, and entreat 
with all long-suffering and doctrine. But their main influence 
as witnesses is by their example. 

They are required to be witnesses in this way, because ex¬ 
ample teaches with so much greater force than precept. This 
is universally known. Actions speak louder than words. But 
where both precept and example are brought to bear, it brings 
the greatest amount of influence to bear upon the mind. As 
to the manner in which they are to testify; the way in which 
they should bear witness to the truth of the points specified; in 
general—they should live in their daily walk and conversation, 
as if they believed the Bible. 

1. As if they believed the soul to be immortal, and as if they 
believed that death was not the termination of their existence, 
but the entrance into an unchanging state. They ought to live 
so as to make this impression full upon all around them. It is 
easy to see that precept without example cm this point will do 
no good. All the arguments in the world will not convince 
mankind that you really believe this, unless you live as if you 
believed it. Your reasoning may be unanswerable, but if you 
do not live accordingly, your practice will defeat your argu¬ 
ments. They will say you are an ingenious sophist, or an 
acute reasoner, and perhaps admit that they cannot answer you; 
but then they will say, it is evident that your reasoning is all 


132 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


false, and that you know it is false, because your life con¬ 
tradicts your theory. Or that, if it is true, you don’t believe it, 
at any rate. And so all the influence of your testimony goes 
to the other side. 

2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of the things of this 
world. You are to testify this by your life. The failure in 
this is the great stumbling block in the way of mankind. 
Here the testimony of God’s children is needed more than any 
where else. Men are so struck with the objects of sense, and 
so constantly occupied with them, that they are very apt to shut 
out eternity from their minds. A small object, that is, held 
close to the eye, may shut out the distant ocean. So the things 
of the world, that are near, magnify so in their minds, that they 
overlook every thing else. One important design in keeping 
Christians in the world is to teach people on this point, practi¬ 
cally, not to labor for the meat that perisheth. But suppose pro¬ 
fessors of religion teach the vanity of earthly things by precept, 
and contradict it in practice. Suppose the women are just as 
fond of dress, and just as particular in observing all the fash¬ 
ions, and the men as eager to have fine houses and equi¬ 
page, as the people of the world. Who does not see that it 
would be quite ridiculous for them to testify with their lips, that 
this world is all vanity, and its joys unsatisfying and empty? 
People feel this absurdity, and it is this that shuts up the lips of 
Christians. They are ashamed to speak to their neighbors, 
while they cumber themselves with these gewgaws, because 
their daily conduct testifies to every body the very reverse. 
How it would look for some of the church members in this city, 
male or female, to. go about among the common people, and 
talk to them about the vanity of the world!—Who would believe 
what they say ? 

3. The satisfying nature of religion. Christians are bound 
to show, by their conduct, that they are actually satisfied with 
the enjoyments of religion, without the pomps and vanities of 
the world; that the joys of religion and communion with God 
keep them above the world. They are to manifest that this 
world is not their home. Their profession is, that heaven is a 
reality, and that they expect to dwell there for ever. But sup¬ 
pose they contradict this by their conduct, and live in such a way 
as to prove that they cannot be happy unless they have a full 
share of the fashion and show of the world, and that as for going 
to heaven, they had much rather remain on earth, than to die 
and go there! What do the world think, when they see a pro¬ 
fessor of religion just as much afraid to die as an infidel? 


MEANS OT BE USED WITH SINNfiRS. 


.33 


Such Christians perjure themselves—they swear to a lie, for 
they testify that there is nothing in religion for which a person 
can afford to live above the world. 

4. The guilt and danger of sinners. Christians are bound 
to warn sinners of their awful condition, and exhort them to flee 
from the wrath to come, and lay hold on everlasting life. But 
who does not know that the manner of doing this is every thing? 
Sinners are often struck under conviction by the very manner of 
doing a thing. There was a man once very much opposed to a 
certain preachel*. On being asked to specify some reason, he re¬ 
plied, “ I can’t bear to hear him, for he says the word HELL iri 
such a way that it rings in my ears a long time afterwards.” 
He -was displeased with the very thing that constituted the power 
of speaking that word. The manner may be such as to convey 
an idea directly opposite to the meaning of the words. A man 
may tell you that your house is on fire in such a way as to make 
directly the opposite impression, and you will take for granted 
that it is not your house that is on fire. The watchman might 
sing out fire, fire, in such a way that .every body would think 
he was either asleep or drunk. A certain manner is so usually 
connected with the announcement of certain things, that they 
cannot be expressed without that manner. The words them¬ 
selves never alone convey the meaning, because the idea can 
only be fully expressed by a particular manner of speaking. 
Go to a sinner, and talk with him about his guilt and danger; 
and if irj your manner you make an impression that does not 
correspond, you in effect bear testimony the other way, and tell 
him he is in no danger of hell. If the sjnner believes at all that 
he* is in danger of hell, it is wholly on other grounds than your 
saying so. If you live in such a way as to show that you 
do not feel compassion for sinners arouna you; if you show no 
tenderness, by your eyes, your features, your voice; if your rpan- 
ner is not solemn and earnest, how can they believe you are 
sincere ? 

Woman, suppose you tell your unconverted husband, in an 
easy, laughing way, “ My dear, I believe you are going to 
hellwill he believe you 1 If your life is gay and trifling, 
you show that either you do not believe there is a hell, or that 
you wish to have him go there, and are trying to keep off every 
serious impression from his mind. Have you children that are 
unconverted ? Suppose you never say any thing to them about 
religion, or when you do talk to them it is in such a cold, hard, 
dry way, as shows you have no feeling; do you suppose they 
believe you ? They don’t see the same coldness in you in re- 

12 


134 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


gard to other things. They are in the habit of seeing all the 
mother in your eye, and in the tones of your voice, your empha¬ 
sis, and the like, and feeling the warmth of a mother’s heart as 
it flows out from your lips on all that concerns them. If, then, 
when you talk to them on the subject of religion, you are cold 
and trifling, can they suppose you believe it? If your deport¬ 
ment holds up before your child this careless, heartless, prayer¬ 
less spirit, and then you talk to him about the importance of 
religion, the child will go away and laugh, to think you should 
try to persuade him there is a helk 

5. The love of Christ. You are to bear witness to the reali¬ 
ty of the love of Christ, by the regard you show for his pre¬ 
cepts, his honor, his kingdom. You, should act as if you 
believed that he died for t]?e sins of the whole world, and as if 
you blamed signers for rejecting his great salvation. This is 
the only legitimate way in which you can impress sinners with 
the love of Christ. Christians, instead of this, often live so as 
to make the impression on sinners that Christ is so compassion¬ 
ate that they have very little to fear from him. I have been 
amazed to see how a certain class of professors want ministers 
to be always preaching about the love of Christ. If a minister 
preaches up duty, and urges Christians to be holy, and to labor 
for Christ, they call it all legal preaching. They say they want 
to hear the gospel. Well, suppose you present the love of 
Christ. How will they bear testimony in their lives? How 
will they show that they believe it ? Why, by conformity to 
the world they will testify, point blank, that they don’t believe 
a word of it, and that they care nothing at all for the love of 
Christ, only to have it for a cloak, that they can talk about it, 
and so cover up their sins. They have no sympathy with his 
compassion, and no belief in it as a reality, and no concern for 
the feelings of Christ, which fill his mind when he sees the 
condition of sinners. 

6. The necessity of holiness in order to enter heaven. It 
will not do to depend on talking about this. They must live 
holy, and thus testify that men need not expect to be saved, 
unless they are holy. The idea has so long prevailed, that 
we cannot be perfect here , that many professors do not so much 
as seriously aim at a sinless life, They cannot honestly say, 
that they ever so much as really meant to live without sin. 
They, drift along before the tide, in a loose, sinful, unhappy and 
abominable manner, at which, doubtless, the devil laughs, be¬ 
cause it is, of all others, the surest way to hell. 

7. The necessity of self-denial, humility, and heavenly-mind- 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


135 


edness. Christians ought to show by their own example what 
the religion is, which is expected of men. That is the most 
powerful preaching, after all, and the most likely to have influ¬ 
ence on the impenitent, by showing them the great difference 
between them and Christians. Many people are trying to 
make men Christians by a different course, by copying as near 
as possible their present manner of life, and conforming tp them 
as much as will possibly do. They seem to think "they can 
make men fall in with religion best by bringing religion down 
to their standard. As if the nearer you bring religion to the 
world, the more likely the world would-be to embrace it. Now 
all this is as wide-as the poles from the true philosophy about 
making Christians. But it is always the policy of carnal pro¬ 
fessors. And they think they are displaying wonderful saga¬ 
city and prudence , by faking so much pains not to scare people 
at the mighty strictness and holiness of the -gospel. They 
argue that if you exhibit religion to mankind as requiring such 
a great change in their manner of life, such innovations upon 
their habits, such a separation from their old associates, why, 
you will drive them all away. This seems plausible at first 
sight. But it is not true. Let professors live in this lax and 
easy way, and sinners say, “ Why, I don’t see but I am about 
right, or at least so near right, that it is impossible God should 
send me to hell for the difference between me and these profess¬ 
ors. It is true, they do a little more than I do, they go to the 
communion table, and pray in their families, and a few such 
like little things, but they can’t make any such great difference 
as heaven and hell.” No, the true way is, to exhibit religion 
and the world in strong contrast, or you never can make sin¬ 
ners feel the necessity of a change. Until the necessity of this 
fundamental change is embodied and held forth in a strong 
light by example, how can you make men believe they are 
going to be sent to hell if they are no.t wholly transformed in 
heart and life ? 

This is not only true in philosophy, but it'has been proved 
by the history of the world. Look at the missions of the 
Jesuits in Japan, by Francis Xavier and his associates. How 
they lived, what a contrast they showed between their religion 
and the heathen, and what results followed! Now I was read¬ 
ing a letter from one of our missionaries, in the East, who 
writes, I believe, to this effect, that a missionary must be able 
to rank with the English nobility, and so recommend his reli¬ 
gion to the respect of the natives. He must get away up above 
Them, so as to* show a superiority, and thus impress them with 


136 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


respect! Is this philosophy? Is this the way to convert the 
world ? You can no more convert the world in this way, than 
by blowing a ram’s horn. It has no tendency that way. What 
did the Jesuits do? They went about among the people in the 
daily practice of self-denial before their eyes, teaching, and 
preaching, and praying, and laboring, unwearied and unawed, 
mingling with every caste and grade, bringing down their instruc¬ 
tions to the capacity of every individual. And in that way the mis¬ 
sion carried idolatry before it like a wave of the sea, and all at once 
their religion spread over the vast empire of Japan. And if 
they had not meddled with politics and brought themselves in 
needless collision with the government, no doubt they would 
have held their ground till this day. I am not saying any 
thing in regard to the religion they taught, for I am not sure 
how much truth they preached with it. I speak only of their 
following the true policy of missions, by phowing by their 
lives, the religion they taught in wide contrast with a worldly 
spirit, and the fooleries of idolatry. This one feature of their 
policy so commended itself to the consciences of the people, that 
it was irresistible. If Christians contradict this one point, and 
attempt to accommodate their religion to the worldliness of 
men, they render the salvation of the world impossible. How 
can you make people believe that self-denial and separation 
from the world are necessary, unless you practise them ? 

8. Meekness, humility, and heavenly-mindedness. The peo¬ 
ple of God should always show a temper like the Son of God, 
who when he was reviled, reviled not again. If a professor of 
religion is irritable, and ready to resent an injury, and fly in a 
passion, and take the same measures as the world do to get re¬ 
dress, by going to law and the like, how is he to make people 
believe there is any reality in a change of heart ? They cannot 
recommend religion, while they have such a spirit. If you are 
in the habit of resenting injurious conduct; if you do not bear 
it meekly, and put the best construction that can be on it, you 
contradict the gospel. Some people always show a bad spirit, 
ever ready to put the worst construction on what is done, and 
take fire at any little thing. This shows a great want of that 
charity, which “ hopeth all things, believeth ail things, endureth 
all things.” But if a man always shows meekness, under inju¬ 
ries, it will confound gainsaying. Nothing makes so solemn 
an impression on sinners, and bears down with such a tremen¬ 
dous weight on their consciences, as to see a Christian, Christ- 
like, bearing affronts and injuries with the meekness of a lamb, 
It cuts like a two-edged sword. 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 137 

I will mention a case to show this. A young' man abused a 
minister to his face, and reviled him in an unprecedented man¬ 
ner. The minister possessed his soul in patience, and spoke 
mildly in reply, telling him the truth pointedly, but yet in a very 
kind manner. This only made him the more' angry, and at 
length he went away in a rage, declaring that he was not going 
to stay and bear this vituperation. As if it was the minister, in¬ 
stead of himself, that had been scolding. The sinner went away, 
but with the arrows of the Almighty in his heart, and in less 
than half an hour he followed the minister to his lodgings in 
intolerable agony, wept, and begged forgiveness, and broke down 
before God, and yielded up his heart to Christ. This calm and 
mild manner was more overwhelming to him than a thousand 
arguments. Now if that minister had been thrown off his guard, 
and answered harshly, no doubt he would have ruined the soul 
of that young man. How many of you have defeated every 
future effort you may make with your impenitent friends or 
neighbors, in some such way as this. On some occasion you 
have showed yourself so irascible, that you have sealed up your 
own lips, and laid a stumbling block over which that sinner will 
stumble into hell. If you have done it in any instance, don’t 
sleep till you have done all you can to retrieve the mischief; till 
you have confessed the sin and done every thing to counteract it 
as far as possible. 

9. The necessity of entire honesty in a Christian. O what a 
field opens here for remark ! But I cannot go over it fully now. 
It extends to all the departments of life. Christians need to 
show the strictest regard to integrity in every department of bu¬ 
siness, and in all their intercourse with their fellow-men. If 
every Christian would pay a scrupulous regard to honesty, and 
always be conscientious to do exactly right, it would make a 
powerful impression on the minds of* people, of the reality of 
religion principle. . 

A lady was once buying some eggs in a store, and the clerk 
made a miscount and gave her one more than the number. She 
saw it at the time, but said nothing, and after she got home it 
troubled her. She felt that she had acted wrong, and she went 
back to the young man and confessed it and paid the difference. 
The impression of her conscientious integrity went to his heart 
like a sword. It was a great sin in her in concealing the mis¬ 
count, because the temptation was so small; for if she would 
cheat him out of an egg, it showed that she would cheat him out 
of his whole store, if she could do it and not be found out. But 
her prompt and humble confession showed an honest conscience. 

12 * 


138 MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 

I am happy to say, there are some men who deal on this 
principle of integrity. And the wicked hate them for it. They 
rail against them, and vociferate in bar-rooms, that they 
never will buy goods of such and such individuals, that such a 
hypocrite shall never touch a dollar of their money, and all 
that, and then they will go right away and buy of them, because 
they know they shall be honestly dealt with. This is a testi¬ 
mony to the truth of religion, that is heard from Georgia to 
Maine. Suppose all Christians did so. What would be the 
consequence % Christians would run away with the business of 
the city. The Christians would soon do the business of the 
world. The great argument which some Christians urge, that 
if they do not do business upon the common principle, of stating 
one price and taking another, they cannot compete Avith men of 
the world, is all false—false in philosophy and false in history. 
Only make it your invariable rule to do right, and do business 
upon principle, and you control the market. The ungodly will 
be obliged to conform to your standard. It is perfectly in the 
power of the church to regulate the commerce of the world, if 
they will only themselves maintain perfect integrity. 

And if Christians will do the same in 'politics , they will sway 
the destinies of nations, without involving themselves at all in 
the base and corrupting strife of parties. Only let Christians 
generally determine to vote ’for no man for any office, that is 
not an honest man and a man of pure morals, and let it be known 
that Christians are united in this, \tfhatever may be their differ¬ 
ence in political sentiments, and no man would be put up who is 
not such a character. In three years it would be talked about 
in taverns and published in newspapers, when any man is set 
up as a candidate for office, “ What a good man he is, how 
moral, how pious,” and the like. And any political party 
would no more set up a knoAvn Sabbath breaker, or a gambler, 
or a profane swearer, or a whoremonger, or a rum-seller, as 
tlieir candidate for office, than they would set up the devil him¬ 
self for president. The carnal policy of many professors, who 
undertake to correct politics by such means as wicked men em¬ 
ploy, and who are determined to vote with a party, let the can¬ 
didate be ever so profligate, is all wrong, wrong in principle, 
contrary to philosophy and common sense, and ruinous to the 
best interests of mankind. The dishonesty of the church is 
cursing the world. I am not going to preach a political ser¬ 
mon, I assure you. But I want to show you, that if you mean 
to impress men favorably to your religion by your lives, you 
must be honest, strictly honest, in business, politics, and every 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 139 

thing you do. What do you suppose those ungodly politicians, 
who know themselves to be playing a dishonest game in carry¬ 
ing an election, think of your religion when they see you uni¬ 
ting with them ? They know you are a hypocrite! 

REMARKS. 

1. It is unreasonable for professors of religion to wonder at 
the thoughtlessness of sinners.—Every thing considered, the 
carelessness of sinners is not wonderful. We are affected by 
testimony, and only by that testimony which is received to our 
minds. Sinners are so taken up with business, pleasure, and 
the things of the world, that they will not examine the Bible to 
find out what religion is. Their feelings are excited only on 
worldly subjects, because these only are brought into warm con¬ 
tact with their minds.—The things of the world make therefore 
a .strong impression. But there is so little to make an impres¬ 
sion on their minds in respect to eternity, and to bring religion 
home to them, that they do not feel on the subject. If they ex¬ 
amined the subject they would feel. But they don’t examine it, 
nor think upon it, nor care for it. And they never will, unless 
God’s witnesses rise up and testify. But inasmuch as the great 
body of Christians in fact live so as to testify on the other side 
by their conduct, how can we expect that sinners will feel right 
on the subject? Nearly all the testimony and all the influence 
that comes to their minds tends to make them feel the other way. 
God has left his cause here before the human race, and left his 
witnesses to testify in his behalf, and behold, they all turn round 
and testify the other way! Is it any wonder that sinners are 
careless? 

2. We see why-it is that preaching does so little good; and 
how it is that so many sinners get gospel-hardened. Sinners 
that live under the gospel are often supposed to be gospel-hard¬ 
ened ; but only let the church wake up, and act consistently, 
and they will feel. If the church were to live only one week as 
if they believed the Bible, sinners would melt down before them. 
Suppose I were a lawyer, and should go into court and spread 
out my client’s case, the issue is joined, and I make my state¬ 
ments, and tell what I expect to prove, and then call in my 
witnesses. The first witness takes his oath, and then rises up 
and contradicts me to my face. What good will all my plead¬ 
ing do ? I might address the jury a month, and be as eloquent 
as Cicero, but so long as my witnesses contradicted me, all my 
pleading would do no good. Just so it is with a minister who 
is preaching in the midst of a cold, stupid, and God-dishonoring 


HO 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS 


church. In vain does he hold up to view the great truths of re¬ 
ligion, when every member of the church is ready to swear he 
lies. Why, in such a church, their very manner of going out 
of the aisles contradicts the sermon. They press out as cheerful 
and as easy, bowing to one and another, and whispering together, 
as if nothing was the matter. Let the minister warn every man 
daily with tears, it will produce no effect. If the devil should 
come in and see the state of things, he would think he could not 
better the business for his interest. 

Yet there are ministers who will go on in this way for years, 
preaching over the heads of such a people; that by their lives 
contradict every word they say, and they think it their duty to 
do so. Duty! To preach to a church that are undoing all his 
work, and contradicting all his testimony, and that will not alter! 
No. Let him shake off the dust from his feet for a testimony, 
and go to the heathen, or to the new settlements. The man is 
wasting his energies, and wearing out his life, and just rocking 
the cradle for a sleepy church, all testifying to sinners, there is 
no danger. Their wholelives are a practical testimony that the 
Bible is not true. Shall ministers continue to wear themselves 
out so? Probably not less than ninety-nine hundredths of the 
preaching in this country is lost, because it is contradicted by 
the church, {Jot one truth in a hundred that is preached takes 
effect, because the lives of professors testify that it is not so. 

3. It is evident that the standard of Christian living must be 
raised, or the world will never be converted. If we had as many 
church members now, as there are families, and scattered all 
over the world, and a minister to every five hundred souls, and 
every child in a Sabbath school, and every young person in a 
Bible class; you would have all the machinery you want, but if 
the church contradict the truth by their lives, it never would pro¬ 
duce a revival. 

They never will have a revival in any place, while the whole 
church in effect testify against the minister. Often it is the case 
that where there is the most preaching, there is the least religion, 
because the church contradict the preaching, I never knew 
means fail of a revival, where Christians live consistent. 
One of the first things is to raise the'standard of religion, so as 
to embody and hang out in the sight of all men, the truth of the 
gospel. Unless ministers can get the church to wake up and 
act as if religion was true, and back their testimony by their lives, 
in vain will they attempt to promote a revival. 

Many churches are depending on their minister to do every 
thing, When he preaches, they will say, “ What a great sermon 




MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS, 141 

that was. He’s an excellent minister. Such preaching must 
do good. We shall have a revival soon, I do not doubt.” And 
all the while, they are contradicting the preaching by their 
li ves. I tell yon, if they are depending on preaching alone to 
carry on the work, they must fail. If Jesus Christ were to come 
and preach, and the church contradict it, he would fail. It has 
been tried once. Let an apostle rise from the dead, or an angel 
come down from heaven and preach, without the church to wit¬ 
ness for God, and it would have no effect. The novelty might 
produce a certain kind of effect for a time, but as soon as the 
novelty was gone, the-preaching would have no saving effect, 
while contradicted by the witnesses, 

4. Every Christian makes an impression by his conduct, and 
witnesses either for one side or the other. His looks, dress, 
whole demeanor, make a constant impression on one side or 
the other. He cannot help testifying for or against religion. 
He is either gathering with Christ, or scattering abroad. Every 
step you take, you tread on cords that will vibrate to all eternity. 
Every time you move, you touch keys whose sound will re-echo 
over all the hills and dales of heaven, and through all the dark 
caverns and vaults of hell. Every movement of your lives, you 
are exerting a tremendous influence, that will tell on the immor¬ 
tal interests of souls all around you. Are you asleep, while all 
your conduct is exerting such an influence? 

Are you going to walk in the street ? Take care how you 
dress. What is that on your head ? What does that gaudy rib¬ 
bon, and those ornaments upon your dress, say to every one that 
meets you ? It makes the impression that you wish to be thought 
pretty. Take care! You might just as well write on your 
clothes, V NO TRUTH IN RELIGION.” It says, “ GIVE 
ME DRESS, GIVE ME FASHION, GIVE ME FLAT¬ 
TERY, AND I AM HAPPY.” The world understand this 
testimony as you walk the streets. You are “ living epistles, 
known and read of all men.” If you show pride, levity, bad 
temper, ayd the like, it is like tearing open the wounds of the 
Savior. How Christ might weep to see professors of religion 
going about hanging up his cause to contempt at the corners of 
streets. Only “let the women adorn themselves in modest appa¬ 
rel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with broidered hair, 
or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but (which becometh women 
professing godliness) with good works;” only let them act con¬ 
sistently, and their conduct will tell on the world, heaven will 
rejoice and hell groan at their influence. But O, let them dis¬ 
play vanity, try to be pretty, bow down to the goddess of fashion, 


142 


MEANS TO BE USED WFTH SINNERS. 


fill their ears with ornaments, and their fingers with rings. Let 
them put feathers in their hats, and clasps upon their arms, lace 
themselves up till they can hardly breathe. Let them put on 
their “ round tires and walk mincing as they go,” and their in¬ 
fluence is reversed. Heaven puts on the robes of mourning, and 
hell may hold a jubilee. 

5. It is easy to see why revivals do not prevail in a great 
city. How can they? Just look at God’s witnesses, and see 
what they are testifying to. They seem to be agreed together 
to tempt the Spirit of the Lord, and lie to the Holy Ghost.—•. 
They make their vows to God, to consecrate themselves wholly 
to him, and then go bowing down at the shrine of fashion, and 
then wonder there are no revivals. It would be more than 
a miracle to have a revival under such circumstances. How 
can a revival prevail in this church ? Do you suppose I have 
such a vain imagination ©f my own ability, as tb think I can 
promote a revival by preaching over your heads, while you live 
on as you do ? Do you not know that so far as your influence 
goes, most of you are right in the way of a revival ? Your 
spirit and deportment produce an influence on the world against 
religion. How shall the world believe religion, when the wit¬ 
nesses are not agreed among themselves ? You contradict your¬ 
selves, you contradict one another, and you contradict your 
minister, and the sum of the whole testimony is, there is no need 
of being pious. 

Do you believe the things I have been preaching are true, or 
are they the ravings of a disturbed mind ? If they are true, do 
you recognise the fact that they have reference to you ? You 
say, perhaps, “ I wish some of the rich churches could hear it!” 
Why, l am not preaching to them, I am preaching to you. My 
responsibility is to you, and my fruits must come from you. 
Now are you contradicting it ? What is the testimony on the 
leaf of the record that is now sealed for the judgment concerning 
this day ? Have you manifested a sympathy with the Son of 
God, when his heart is bleeding in view of the desolations of 
Zion? Have your children, clerks, servants, seen it to be so? 
Have they seen a solemnity on your countenance, and tears in 
your eyes, in view of perishing souls ? 

Finally. —I must close by remarking, that God and all 
moral beings have great reason to complain of this false testi- 
mony. There is ground to complain that God’s witnesses turn 
and testify point-blank against him. They declare by their 
conduct that there is no truth in the gospel. Heaven might 
weep and hell rejoice to see this. O how guilty! Here you 


MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS. 


143 


are, going to the judgment, red all over with blood. Sinners are 
to meet you there, those who have seen how you live, many of 
them already dead, and many others you will never see again. 
What an influence you have exerted! Perhaps hundreds of 
souls will meet you in the judgment, and curse you (if they are 
allowed to speak) for leading them to hell, by practically deny¬ 
ing the truth of the gospel. What will become of this city, 
and of the world, when the church is united in practically tes¬ 
tifying that God is a liar ? They testify by their lives, that if 
they make a profession and live a inoral life, that is religion 
enough. O- what a doctrine of devils is.that! Enough to 
ruin the whole human race. 

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•V 4 J i "< » v . ‘ r. , : 

LECTURE X. 

TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 

Text.—H e that winneth souls is wise.”—P roverbs xi. 30. 

The most common definition of wisdom is, that it is the se~ 
dection of the most appropriate means for the accomplishment 
of an end—the best adaptation of means to secure a desired end. 
“ He that winneth souls,” God says, “ is wise.” The object of 
this evening’s lecture is to direct Christians in the use of means 
for accomplishing their infinitely desirable end, the salvation of 
souls. To-night I shall confine my attention to the private 
efforts of individuals for the conversion and salvation of men. 
On another occasion, perhaps I shall use the same text in speak¬ 
ing of what is wise in the public preaching of the gospel, and 
the labors of ministers. In giving some directions to aid pri¬ 
vate Christians in this work, I propose, 

I. To show Christians how they should deal with careless 
sinners. 

II. How they should deal with awakened sinners. 

III. How they should deal with convicted sinners. 

I. The manner of dealing with careless sinners. 

1. In regard to the time. It is important that you should 
select a proper time to try to make a serious impression on the. 
mind of a careless sinner. Much depends on timing your ef¬ 
forts right. For if you fail of selecting the most proper time, 
very probably you will be defeated. True, you may say, it is 
your duty at all times to warn sinners, and try to awaken them 
to think of their souls. And so it is; yet if you do not pay due 
regard to the time and opportunity, your hope of success may 
be very doubtful. 

(1.) It is desirable, if possible, to address a person that is 
careless, when he is disengaged from other employments. „ In 
proportion as his attention is taken up with something else, it 
will be difficult to awaken him to religion. People who are 
careless and indifferent to religion are often offended, rather than 
benefited, by being called off from important and lawful busi¬ 
ness. For instance, a minister perhaps goes to visit the family 
of a merchant, or mechanic, or farmer, and finds the man 
absorbed in his business; perhaps he calls him off from his 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


145 


work when it is urgent, and the man is uneasy and irritable, 
and feels as if it was an intrusion. In such a case, there is 
little room to expect any good. Notwithstanding it is true that 
religion is infinitely more important than all his worldly busi¬ 
ness, and he ought to postpone every thing to the salvation of 
his soul, yet he does not feel it, for if he did he would no longer 
be a careless sinner, and therefore he regards it as unjustifiable, 
and gets offended. You must take him as you find him, a care¬ 
less, impenitent sinner, and deal with him accordingly. He is 
absorbed in other things, and very apt to be offended if you take 
such a time to interfere and call his attention to religion. 

(2.) It is important to take a person, if possible, at a time 
when he is not strongly excited with any other subject. If that 
is the case, he is in an unfit frame to be addressed on the sub¬ 
ject of religion. In proportion to the strength of that excite¬ 
ment would be the probability that you would do no good.— 
You may possibly reach him; persons have had their minds 
arrested and turned to religion in the midst of a powerful ex¬ 
citement on other subjects. But it is not likely. 

(3.) Be sure that the person is perfectly sober. It used to 
be more common than it is now, for people to drink spirits 
every day, and become more o less intoxicated. Precisely in 
proportion as they are so, they are rendered unfit to be ap¬ 
proached on the subject of religion. If they have been drink¬ 
ing beer, or cider, or wine, so that you can smell their breath, 
you may know there is but little chance of producing any last¬ 
ing effect on them. I have had professors of religion bring 
persons to me, pretending they were under conviction; for you 
know that people in liquor are often very fond of talking upon 
religion ; but as soon as I came near them, so as to smell their 
breath, I have asked, Why do you bring this drunken man to 
me? Why, they say, he is not drunk, he has only drank a 
little. Well, that little has made him a little drunk. He is 
drunk, if you can smell his breath. The cases are exceedingly 
rare where a person has been truly convicted, who had any 
intoxicating liquor in him. 

(4.) If possible, where you wish to converse with a man on 
the subject of salvation, take him when he is in a good temper. 
If you find him out of humor, very probably he will get angry 
and abuse you. Better let him alone for that time, or you will 
be likely to quench the Spirit. It is possible you may be able 
to talk in such a way as to cool his temper, but it is not likely. 
The truth is, men hate God, and though their hatred may be 
dormant, it is easily excited, and if you bring God fully before 

13 


146 TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 

their minds when they are already excited with anger, it will 
he so much the easier to arouse their enmity to open violence. 

(5.) If possible, always take an opportunity to converse with 
careless sinners when they are alone. Most men are too proud 
to he conversed with freely respecting themselves in the pre¬ 
sence of others, even their own family. A man in such cir¬ 
cumstances will brace up all his powers to defend himself 
while if he was alone he would melt down under the truth.— 
He will resist the truth, or try to laugh it off, for fear that if he 
should manifest any feeling, somebody will go and report that 
he is serious. 

In visiting families, instead of calling all the family together 
at the same time to be talked to, the better way is to see them 
all, one at a time. There was a case of this kind: Several 
young ladies, of a proud, gay, and fashionable character, lived 
together in a fashionable family. Two men were strongly de¬ 
sirous to get the subject of religion before them, but were at a 
loss how to accomplish it, for fear they would all combine, and 
counteract or resist every serious impression. At length they 
took this course. They called and sent up their card to one of 
the young ladies by name. She came down and they conversed 
with her on the subject of her salvation, and as she was alone, 
she not only treated them politely, but seemed to receive the 
truth .with seriousness. A day or two after, they called in like 
manner on another, and then another, and so on, till they had 
conversed with every one separately. In a little time they 
were all, I believe, every one, hopefully converted. This was 
as it should be, for then they could not keep each other in 
countenance. And then the impression made on one was fol¬ 
lowed up with the others, so that one was not left to exert a 
bad influence over the rest. 

There was a pious woman who kept a boarding house for 
young gentlemen; she had twenty-one or two of them in her 
family, and at length she became very anxious for their salva¬ 
tion; she made it a subject of prayer, but saw no seriousness 
among them, At length she saw that there roust be something 
done besides praying, and yet she did not know what to do. 
One morning after breakfast, as they were retiring, she asked 
one of them to stop a few minutes. She took him to her room, 
and conversed with him tenderly on the subject of religion, and 
prayed with him. She followed up the impression made, and 
pretty soon he was hopefully converted. Then there were 
two, and they addressed another, and prayed with him, and 
soon he was prepared to join them. Then another, and so on, 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


147 


taking one at a time, and letting none of the rest know what 
was going on, so as not to alarm them, till every one of these 
young men were converted to God. Now if she had brought 
the subject before the whole of them together, very likely they 
would have turned it all into ridicule; or perhaps they would 
have been offended, and left the house, and then she could have 
had no further influence over them. But taking one alone, 
and treating him respectfully and kindly, he had no such 
motive for resistance as arises out of the presence of others. 

(6.) Try to seize an opportunity to converse with a careless 
sinner, when the events of Providence seem to favor your design. 
If any particular event should occur, calculated to make a seri¬ 
ous impression, be sure to improve the occasion faithfully. 

(7.) Seize the earliest opportunity to converse with those 
around you who are careless. Don’t put it off from day to 
day, thinking a better opportunity will come. You must seek 
an opportunity, and if none offers 'make one. Appoint a time 
and place, and get an interview with your friend or neighbor, 
where you can speak to him freely. Send him a note, go to 
him on purpose, make it look like a matter of business, as if 
you were in earnest in endeavoring to promote his soul’s sal¬ 
vation. Then he will feel that it is a matter of importance, at 
least in your eyes. Follow it up till you succeed, or become 
convinced nothing can now be done. 

(8.) If you have any feeling for a particular individual, take 
an opportunity to converse with that individual while this feel¬ 
ing continues. If it is a truly benevolent feeling, you have rea¬ 
son to believe the Spirit of God is moving you to desire the sal¬ 
vation of his soul, and that God is ready to bless your efforts for 
his conversion. In such a case, make it the subject of special 
and importunate prayer, and seek an early opportunity to pour 
out all your heart to him, and bring him to Christ. « 

2. In regard to the manner of doing all this. 

(1.) When you approach a careless individual, to endeavor 
to awaken him to his soul’s concerns, be sure to treat him kindly. 
Let him see that you address him, not because you seek a quar¬ 
rel with him, but because you love his soul, and desire his best 
good, in time and eternity. If you are harsh and overbearing 
in your manner, you will probably offend him, and drive him 
farther off from the way of life. 

(2.) Be solemn. Avoid all lightness of manner or language. 
Levity will produce any thing but a right impression. You 
ought to feel that you are engaged in a very solemn work, which 
is going to affect the character of your friend or neighbor, and 


148 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


probably determine his destiny for eternity. Who could trifle 
and use levity in such circumstances if his heart was sincere? 

(3.) Be respectful. Some seem to suppose it necessary to be 
abrupt, and rude, and coarse in their intercourse with the care¬ 
less and impenitent. Nothing can be a greater mistake. The 
Apostle Paul has given us a better rule on the subject, where 
he says, “ Be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil, 
or railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing.” A rude and 
coarse address is, only calculated to give an unfavorable opinion 
both of you and of your religion. 

(4.) Be sure to be very plain. Do not suffer yourself to cover 
up any circumstance of the person’s character, and his relations 
to God. Lay it all open, not for the purpose of offending or 
wounding him, but because it is necessary. Before you can 
cure a wound, you must probe it to the bottom. Keep back 
none of the truth, but let it come out plainly before him. 

(5.) Be sure to address his conscience. In public addresses, 
ministers often get hold of the feelings only, and thus awaken 
the mind. But in private conversation you cannot do so. You 
cannot pour out the truth in an impassioned and rousing man¬ 
ner. And unless you address the conscience pointedly, you get 
no hold of the mind at all. 

(6.) Bring the great and fundamental truths to bear upon 
the person’s mind. Sinners are very apt to run off upon some 
pretext or some subordinate point, especially some point of sec¬ 
tarianism. For instance,,if the man is a Presbyterian, he will 
try to turn the conversation on the points of difference between 
Presbyterians and Methodists. Or he will fall foul of old school 
divinity. Don’t yield to him, or talk with him on any such 
point; it will do more hurt than good. Tell him the present 
business is to save his soul, and not to settle controverted ques¬ 
tions in theology. Hold him to the great fundamental points, by 
which he must be saved or lost. 

(7.) B z.very patient. If he has a real difficulty in his mind, 
be very patient till you find out what it is, and then clear it up. 
If what he alleges is a mere cavil, make him see that it is a cavil. 
Don’t try to answer it by argument, but show him that he is 
not sincere in advancing it. It is not worth while to spend your 
time in arguing against a cavil, but make him feel that he is 
committing sin to plead it, and thus enlist his conscience on 
your side. 

(8.) Be careful to guard your own spirit. There are many 
people who have not good temper enough to converse with those 
who are much opposed to religion. And such a person wants 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


149 


no better triumph than to see you angry. He will go away 
exulting because he has made one of these saints mad. 

(9.) If the sinner is inclined to intrench himself against God, 
be careful not to take his part in any thing. If he says he can’t 
do his duty, do not take sides with him, or say any thing to 
countenance his falsehood. Do not tell him he can’t, or help 
him maintain himself in the controversy against his Maker. 
Sometimes a careless sinner will go to finding fault with Chris¬ 
tians. Do not take his part or side with him against Christians. 
Just tell him he has not got their sins to answer for, and he had 
better see to his own concerns. If you fall in with him, he feels 
that he has you on his side. Show him that it is a censorious 
and wicked spirit that prompts him ta make these remarks, 
and not a regard for the honor of religion or the laws of Jesus 
Christ. 

(10.) Bring up the individual’s particular sms. Talking in 
general terms against sin will produce no results. You must 
make a man feel that you mean him. A minister who cannot 
make his hearers feel that he means them, cannot expect to ac¬ 
complish much. Some people are very careful to avoid men¬ 
tioning the particular sins of which they know the individual 
to be guilty, for fear of hurting his feelings. This is wrong. If 
you know his history, bring up his particular sins, kindly but 
plainly, not to give offence, but to awaken conscience, and give 
full force to the truth. 

(11.) It is generally best to be short , and not spin out what we 
have to say. Get the attention as soon as you can to the very 
point, say a few things and press them home, and bring the 
matter to an issue. If possible, get them to repent and give 
themselves to Christ at the time. This is the proper issue. 
Carefully avoid making an impression that you do not expect 
them to repent NOW. 

(12.) If possible, when you converse with sinners, be sure to 
pray with them. If you converse with them, and leave them 
without praying, you leave your work undone. 

IL The manner of dealing with awakened sinners. 

1. You should be careful to distinguish between an awaken¬ 
ed sinner, and one who is under conviction. When you find 
a person who feels a little on the subject of religion, do not take 
it for granted that he is convicted of sin , and thus omit to use 
means to show him his sin. Persons are often awakened by 
some providential circumstance, as sickness, a thunderstorm, 
pestilence, death in the family, disappointment, or the like, or 
by the Spirit of God, so that their ears are open, and they are 


150 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


ready to hear on the subject of religion with attention and 
seriousness, and some feeling. If you find a person awakened, 
no matter by what means, lose no time to pour in light upon 
his mind. Don’t he afraid, but show him the breadth of the 
Divine law, and the exceeding strictness of its precepts. Make 
him see how it condemns his thoughts and life. Search out 
his heart, find what is there, and bring it up before his mind, 
as far as you can. If possible, melt him down on the spot. 
When once you have got a sinner’s attention, very often his 
conviction and conversion is the work of a few moments. You 
can sometimes do more in five minutes, than in years or a whole 
life while he is careless or indifferent. 

I have been amazed at the conduct of those cruel parents, 
and other heads of families, who will let an awakened sinner 
be in their families for days and weeks, and not say a word to 
him on the subject. Why, they say, if the Spirit of God has 
begun a work in him, he will certainly carry it on ! Perhaps 
the person is anxious to converse, and puts himself in the way 
of Christians, as often as possible, expecting they will converse 
with him, and they do not say a word. Amazing! Such a per¬ 
son ought to be looked out immediately, as soon as he is awak¬ 
ened, and let a blaze of light be poured into his mind without 
delay. Whenever you have reason to believe that a person 
within your reach is awakened, do not sleep till you have 
poured in the light upon his mind, and tried to bring him to 
immediate ^repentance. Then is the time to press the subject 
with effect. If that favorable moment is lost, it can never be 
recovered. 

I have often seen Christians in revivals, who were constantly 
on the look-out to see if any persons appeared to be awakened. 
And as soon as they saw any one begin to manifest feeling 
under preaching, they would mark him, and as soon as the 
meeting was out, invite him to a room and converse and pray 
with him, and if possible not leave him till he was converted. 
A remarkable case of this kind occurred in a town at the West. 
A merchant came to the place from a distance to buy goods. It 
was a time of powerful revival, but he was determined to keep 
out of its influence, and so he would not go to any meeting at 
all. At length he found every body so much engaged in reli¬ 
gion that it met him at every turn, and he got vexed, and swore 
he would go home. There was so much religion there, he said, 
he could not do any business, and he would not stay. Accord- 
ingly he took his seat for the stage, which was to leave at four 
o’clock the next morning. As he spoke of going away, a 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 151 

gentleman belonging to the house, who was one of the young 
converts, asked him if he would not go to meeting once before 
he left town. He finally consented, and went to the meeting. 
The sermon took hold of his mind, but not with sufficient 
power to bring him into the kingdom. He returned to his 
lodgings, and called the landlord to pay his bill. The land¬ 
lord, who had himself recently experienced religion, Saw that 
he was agitated. He accordingly spoke to-him on the subject of 
religion, and the man burst into tears. The landlord imme¬ 
diately called in three or four young converts, and they prayed 
and exhorted him, and at four o’clock in the morning, when 
the stage called, he went on his way rejoicing in God ! When 
he got home, he called his family together, confessed to them 
his past sins, and avowed his determination to live differently, 
and prayed with them for the first time. It was so unexpected 
that it was soon noised abroad, people began to inquire, and a 
revival broke out in the place. Now, suppose these. Christians 
had done as some do, been careless, and let the man go off, 
slightly impressed ? It is not probable he ever could have been 
saved. Such opportunities are often lost for ever, when once 
the favorable moment is passed. 

III. The manner of dealing with convicted sinners. 

By a convicted sinner I mean one who feels himself con 
demned by the law of God, as a guilty sinner. He has so much 
instruction as to Understand something of the extent of God’s 
law, and he sees and feels his g*uilty state, and knows what his 
remedy is. To deal with these often requires great wisdom. 
There are some most trying cases occur, when it is extremely 
difficult to know what to do with them. 

1. When a person is convicted and not converted , but remains 
in an anxious state, there is generally some specific reason for it. 
In such cases, it does no good to exhort him to repent, or to ex¬ 
plain the law to him. He knows all that, he understands all 
these general points. But still he don’t repent. Now there 
must be some particular difficulty to overcome. You may preach, 
and pray, and exhort till doomsday, and not gain any thing. 

You must then set yourself to inquire what is that particular 
difficulty. A physician, when he is called to a patient, and finds 
him sick with a particular disease, first administers the general 
remedies that are applicable to that disease. If they produce 
no effect, and the disease still continues, he must examine the 
case, and learn the constitution of the individual, and his habits, 
diet, manner of living, &c., and see what the matter is that the 
medicine does not take effect. So it is with the case of a sinner 


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convicted but not converted. If your ordinary instructions and 
exhortations fail, there must he a difficulty. The particular dif¬ 
ficulty is often known to the individual himself, though he keeps 
it concealed. Sometimes it is something that has escaped even 
his own observation. 

(1.) Sometimes the individual has some idol, something which 
he loves more than God, which prevents him from giving him¬ 
self up. You must search out and see what it is that he will 
not give up. Perhaps it is wealth, perhaps some earthly friend, 
perhaps gay dress, or gay company, or some favorite amusement. 
At any rate there is something on which his heart is so set that 
he will not yield to God. 

(2.) Perhaps he has done an injury to some individual, that 
calls for redress, and he is unwilling to confess it or to make a 
just recompense. Now, until he will confess and forsake this 
sin, he can find no mercy. If he has injured the person in pro¬ 
perty, or character, or has abused him, he must make it up. If 
you can find it out, tell him plainly, and frankly, that there is no 
hope for him till he is willing to confess it, and to do what is 
right. 

(3.) Sometimes there is some 'particular sin , which he will 
not forsake. He pretends it is only a small one, or tries to per¬ 
suade himself it is no sin. No matter how small it is, he can 
never get into the kingdom of God till he gives it up. Sometimes 
an individual has seen it to be a sin to use tobacco, and he never 
can find true peace till he gives it up. Perhaps he is looking 
upon it as a small sin. 

But God knows nothing about small sins in such a case. 
What is the sin ? Why, it is injuring* your health, setting a 
bad example, and taking God’s money, which you are bound to 
employ in his service, and spending it for tobacco. What would 
a merchant say, if he found one of his clerks in the habit of 
going to the money drawer, and taking money enough to k§ep 
him in cigars ? Would he call it a small offence ? No, he would 
say he deserved to be sent to the state prison. I mention this 
particular sin, because l have found it to be one of the things to 
which men who are convicted will hold on when they know it 
is wrong, and then wonder why they do not find peace. 

(4.) See if there is not some work of remuneration , which he 
is bound to do. Perhaps he has defrauded somebody in trade, 
or taken some unfair advantage, con rary to the golden rule of 
doing as you would be done by, and is unwilling to make satis¬ 
faction. This is a very common sin among merchants and men 
of business. I have known many melancholy instances, where 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


153 


men have grieved away the Spirit of God, or else have been 
driven well nigh to absolute despair, because they were unwill¬ 
ing to give satisfaction where they have done such things. Now 
it is plain that such persons never can have forgiveness until 
they do it. 

(5.) They may have 'intrenched themselves somewhere, and 
fortified their minds in regard to some particular point, which 
they are determined not to yield. For instance, they may have 
taken strong ground that they will not do a particular thing. I 
knew a man who was determined not to go into a certain grove to 
pray. Several other persons during the revival had gone into 
the gro^e, and there, by prayer and meditation given themselves 
to God. His own cjerk had been converted there. The law¬ 
yer himself was awakened, but he was determined that he would 
not go into the grove. He had powerful convictions, and went 
on for weeks in this way, with no relief. He tried to make God 
believe it was not pride that kept him from Christ; and so, when 
Ke was going home from meeting he would kneel down in the 
street and pray. 4. n d not only that, but he would look round 
for a mud-puddle in the street, in which he might kneel, to show 
that he was not proud. He once prayed all night in his parlor, 
but he would not go into the grove. His distress was so great, 
and he was so mad with God, that he was strongly tempted to 
make way with himself, and actually threw away his knife for 
fear he should cut his throat. At length he concluded he would 
go into the grove and pray, and as soon as he got there he was 
converted, and went and poured out his full heart to God. 

So individuals are sometimes intrenched in a determination 
that they will not go to a particular meeting, perhaps the in¬ 
quiry meeting, or some prayer meeting, or they will not have a 
certain person pray with them, or they will not take a particular 
seat, such as the anxious seat. They say that they can be con¬ 
verted just as well without yielding this point, for religion don’t 
consist in this,‘going to a particular meeting, or taking a par¬ 
ticular attitude in prayer, or a particular seat. This is true, 
but by taking this ground they -make it the material point. And 
so long as they are intrenched there, and determined to bring 
God to their terms, they never can be converted. Sinners will 
often yield any thing else, and do any thing in the world, but 
yield the point upon which they have committed themselves, 
and taken a stand against God. They cannot be humbled, 
until they yield this point, whatever it is. And if without yield¬ 
ing it, they get a hope, it will be a false ho^e. 

(6.) Perhaps he has a prejudice against some one, a member 


154 


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of the church perhaps, on account of some faithful dealing with 
his soul, or something in his business that he did not like, and 
he hangs on this, and will never be converted till he gives it 
up. Whatever it be, you should search it out and tell him the 
truth, plainly and faithfully. 

(7.) He may feel ill will towards some one, or be angry, and 
cherish strong feelings of resentment, which prevent him from 
obtaining mercy from God. “ And when ye stand praying, 
forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also 
which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But, if ye 
do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven 
forgive your trespasses.” 

(8.) Perhaps he entertains some errors in doctrine, or some 
wrong notions respecting the thing to be done , or the way of 
doing it, which may be keeping him out of the kingdom. Per¬ 
haps he is waiting for God. He is convinced that he deserves 
to go to hell, and that unless he is converted he must go there, 
but he is waiting for God to do something to him before he sub 1 
mits. He is in fact waiting for God to do for him what he has 
required the sinner to do. 

He may be waiting for more conviction. People often do 
not know what conviction is, and think they are not under con¬ 
viction when in fact they are under powerful conviction. They 
often think nothing is conviction unless they have great fears of 
hell. But the fact is, individuals often have strong convictions, 
who have very little fear of hell. Show them what is the 
truth, and let them see they have no need to wait. 

Perhaps he may be waiting for certain feelings, which some¬ 
body else has had before he obtained mercy. This is very 
common in revivals, where some one of the first converts has 
told of remarkable experiences. Others who are awakened are 
very apt to think they must wait for just such feelings. I knew 
a young man thus awakened; his companion had been con¬ 
verted in a remarkable way, and this one was waiting for just 
such feelings. He said he was using the means, and praying 
for them, but finally found that he was a Christian, although 
he had not been through the course of feeling he expected. 

Sinners often lay out a plan of the way they expect to feel, 
and how they expect to be converted, and in fact lay out the 
work for God, determined that they will go in that path or not 
at all. Tell them this is all wrong, they must not lay out any 
such path beforehand, but let God lead them as he sees to be 
best. God always leads the blind by a way they know not. 
There never was a sinner brought into the kingdom through 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


155 


such a course of feeling as he expected. Very often they are 
amazed to find that they are in, and have had no such exercises 
as they expected. 

It is very common for persons to be waiting to be made sud- 
jects of prayer, or for some particular means to be used, or to 
see if they cannot make themselves better. They are so wicked, 
they say, that they can’t come to Christ. They want to try, 
by hurtiiliation, and suffering, and prayer, to fit themselves to 
come. You will have to hunt them out of all these refuges. 
It is astonishing into how many corners they will often run 
before they will go to Christ. I have known persons almost 
deranged for the want of a little correct instruction. 

Sometimes such people think their sins are too great to be 
forgiven, or that they have grieved the Spirit of God away, 
when that Spirit is all the while convicting them. They pre¬ 
tend their sins are greater than Christ’s mercies, thus actually 
insulting the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes sinners get the idea that they are given up of 
God, and that now they cannot be saved. It is often very diffi¬ 
cult to beat persons off from this ground. Many of the most 
distressing cases I ever met with, have been of this character, 
where persons would insist upon it that they were given up, 
and nothing would change them. 

In a place where I was laboring in a revival, I went one day 
into the meeting, and before the exercises commenced, I heard 
a low moaning, distressing, unearthly noise. I looked and saw 
several women gathered round the person who made it. They 
said it was a woman in despair. She had been a long time in 
that state. Her husband was a drunkard. He had brought her 
to meeting and gone himself to the tavern. I conversed with 
her, and saw her state, and that it was very difficult to reach 
her case. As I was going away to commence-the exercises, 
she said she must go out, for she could not hear praying or 
singing. I told her she must not go, and told the ladies to de¬ 
tain her, if necessary by force. I felt that if the devil had hold 
of her, God was stronger than the devil, and could deliver her. 
The exercises began, and she made some noise at first. But by 
and by she looked up. The subject was chosen with special 
reference to her case, and as it proceeded, her attention was 
gained, her eyes were fixed—I never shall forget how she look¬ 
ed—her eyes and mouth open, her head up, and she almost rose 
from her seat as the truth poured in upon her mind. Finally, 
as the truth knocked away every foundation on which her 
despair had rested, she shrieked out, put her head down, and 


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sat perfectly still till the meeting was out. I went to her, and 
found her perfectly calm and happy in God. I saw her long 
afterwards, and she remained so. Thus Providence threw her 
where she never expected to be, and compelled her to hear instruc¬ 
tion adapted to her case. You may often do incalculable good by 
finding out precisely where the difficulty lies, and then bring 
the truth to bear right on that point. 

Sometimes persons will strenuously maintain that they have 
committed the unpardonable sin. When they get that idea into 
their minds, they will turn every thing you say against them¬ 
selves. In some such cases, it is a good way to take them on 
their own ground, and reason with them in this way; “Sup¬ 
pose you have committed the unpardonable sin, what then ? It 
is reasonable that you should submit to God, and be sorry for 
your sins, and break off from them, and do all the good you 
can, even if God will not forgive you. Even if you go to hell 
you ought to do this.” Press this thought and turn it over until 
you find they understand and consent to it. 

It is common for persons in such cases to keep their eyes on 
themselves; they will shut themselves up, and keep looking at 
their own darkness, instead of looking away to Christ. Now if 
you can take their minds off from themselves, and get them to 
think of Christ, you may draw them away from brooding over 
their own present feelings, and get them to lay hold on the hope 
set before them in the gospel. 

2. Be careful, in conversing with convicted sinners, not to 
make any compromise with them on any point where they have 
a difficulty. If you do, they will be sure to take advantage of it, 
and thus get a false hope. Convicted sinners often get into a 
difficulty, in regard to giving up some darling sin, or yielding 
some point where conscience and the Holy Ghost are at war 
with them. And if they come across an individual who will 
yield the point, they feel better, and are happy, and think they 
are converted. The young man who came to Christ was of this 
character. He had one difficulty, and Jesus Christ knew just 
what it was. He knew he loved his money, and- instead of 
compromising the matter and thus trying to comfort him, he 
just put his finger on the very place and told him, “ Go sell all 
that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come follow me.” 
What was the effect 1 Why the young man went away sor¬ 
rowful. Yery likely, if Christ had told him to do any thing else, he 
would have felt relieved, and would have got a hope; would 
have professed himself a disciple, joined the church, and gone 
to hell. 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


157 


People are often amazingly anxious to make a compromise. 
They will ask such questions as this, Whether you don’t think 
a person may be a Christian and yet do such and such things; or 
if he may not be a Christian and not do such and such things. 
Now, do not yield an inch to any such questions. These questions 
themselves may often show you the very point that is laboring in 
their minds. They will show you that it is pride, or love of 
the world, or something of the kind, which prevents their be¬ 
coming Christians. 

Be careful to make thorough work on this point, the love of 
the world. I believe there have been more false hopes built on 
wrong instructions here, than in any other way. I once heard 
a Doctor of Divinity trying to persuade his hearers to give up 
the world; and he told them “ if they would only give it up, 
God would give it right back to them again. He is willing you 
should enjoy the world.” Miserable! God never gives back 
the world to the Christian, in the same sense that he requires a 
convicted sinner to give it up. He requires us to give up the 
ownership of every thing to him, so that we shall never again 
for a moment consider it as our own. A man must not think 
he has a right to judge for himself how much of his property he 
shall lay out for God. One man thinks he may spend seven 
thousand dollars a year to support his family; he has a right to 
do it, because he has the means, of his own. Another thinks he 
may lay up fifty or a hundred thousand dollars. One man 
said the other day, that he had promised he never would give 
any of his property to educate young men for the ministry. 
When he is applied to, he just answers, “ I have said I never 
will give to any such object, and I never will.” Man ! did Jesus 
Christ ever tell you to do so with his money ? Has he laid 
down any such rule? Remember it is his money you are talk¬ 
ing about, and if he wants it to educate ministers, you withhold 
it at your peril. That man has yet to learn the first principle of 
religion, that he is not his own, and that the money which he 
possesses is Jesus Christ’s. 

Here is the great reason why the church is so full of false 
hopes. Men have been left to suppose they could be Christians, 
while holding on to their money. And this has served as a 
clog to every enterprise. It is an undoubted fact, that the church 
has funds enough to supply the world with Bibles, and tracts, 
and missionaries, immediately. But the truth is, that professors 
of religion do not believe that the “ earth is the Lord’s, and the 
fullness thereof.” Every man supposes he has a right to decide 
what appropriation he shall make of his own money. And they 


158 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


have no idea that Jesus Christ shall dictate to them on the sub¬ 
ject. 

Be sure to deal thoroughly on this point. The church is 
now filled up with hypocrites, because they were never made to 
give up the world. They never were made to see that unless 
they made an entire consecration of all to Christ, all their time, 
all their talents, all their influence, they would never get to 
heaven. Many think they can be Christians, and yet dream 
along through life, and use all their time and property for them¬ 
selves, only giving a little now and then, to save appearances, 
when they can do it with perfect convenience. But it is a sad 
mistake, and they will find it so, if they do not employ their en¬ 
ergies for God. And when they die, instead of finding heaven 
at the end of the path they are pursuing, they will find hell 
there. 

In dealing with a convicted sinner, be sure to drive him 
away from every refuge, and not leave him an inch of ground to 
stand on, so long as he resists God. This need not take a long 
time to do. When the Spirit of God is at work striving with 
a sinner, it is easy to drive him from his refuges. You will 
find the truth will be like a hammer, crushing wherever it 
strikes. Make clean work with it, so that he shall give up all 
for God. 

Make the sinner see clearly the nature and extent of the Di¬ 
vine law, and press the main question of entire submission to 
God. Bear down on that point as soon as you have made him 
clearly understand what you aim at, and do not turn ofF upon 
any thing else. 

Be careful, in illustrating the subject, not to mislead the mind 
so as to leave the impression that a selfish submission will an¬ 
swer, or a selfish acceptance of the atonement, or a selfish giv¬ 
ing up to Christ and receiving him, as if a man was making a 
good bargain, givinguphis sins and receiving salvation in ex¬ 
change. This is mere barter, and not submission to God. 
Leave no ground in your explanations or illustrations, for such 
a view of the matter. Man’s selfish heart will eagerly seize 
such a view of religion, if it be presented, and very likely close 
in with it, and thus get a false hope. 

Another time I shall call your attention to certain things that 
are to be avoided in dealing with sinners. 

REMARKS. 

1. Make it an object of constant study and of daily reflection 
and ‘prayer, to learn how to deal with sinners, so as to promote 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


159 


their conversion. It is the great business on earth of every 
Christian, to save souls. People often complain that they do 
not know how to take hold of this matter. Why, the reason is 
plain enough; they have never studied it. They never took 
the proper pains to qualify themselves for the work of saving 
souls. If people made it no more a matter of attention and 
thought to qualify themselves for their worldly business, than 
they do to save souls, how do you think they would succeed? 
Now, if you are thus neglecting the main business of life, what 
are you living for? If you do not make it a matter of study, 
how you may most successfully act in building up the kingdom 
of Christ, you are acting a very wicked and absurd part as a 
Christian. 

2. Many professors of religion do more hurt than good, when 
they attempt to talk to impenitent sinners. They have so little 
knowledge and skill, that their remarks rather divert attention 
than increase it. 

3. Be careful to find the ‘point where the Spirit of God is 
pressing a sinner, and press-the same point in all your remarks. 
If you divert his attention from that point, you will be in great 
danger of destroying his convictions. Take pains to learn the 
state of his mind, what he is thinking of, how he feels, and 
what he feels most deeply upon, and then press that thorough¬ 
ly, and don’t divert his mind by talking about any thing else. 
Do not fear to press that point, for fear of driving him to dis¬ 
traction. Some people fear to press a point to which the mind 
is tremblingly alive, lest they should injure' the mind, notwith¬ 
standing the Spirit of God is evidently debating that point with 
the sinner. This is an attempt to be wiser than God. You 
should clear up the point, throw the light of truth all around 
it, and bring the soul to yield, and then the mind is at rest. 

4. Great evils have arisen, and many false hopes have been 
created, by not discriminating between an awakened and a con¬ 
victed sinner. For the want of this, persons who are only 
aAvakened are immediately pressed to submit; “you must re¬ 
pent,” “ submit to God,” when they are not in fact'convinced 
of their guilt, nor instructed so far as even to know what sub¬ 
mission means. This is one way in which revivals have been 
greatly injured by indiscriminate exhortations to repent, unac¬ 
companied with proper instruction. 

5. Anxious sinners are to be regarded as being in a very so¬ 
lemn and critical state. They have in fact come to a turning 
point. It is a time when their destiny is likely to be settled 
for ever. The Spirit of God will not strive always. Christians 


160 


TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM. 


ought to feel deeply for them. In many respects their circum 
stances are more solemn than the judgment day. Here theii 
destiny is settled. The judgment day reveals it. And the par¬ 
ticular time when it is done is when the Spirit is striving with 
them. Christians should remember their awful responsibility 
at such times. The physician, if he knows any thing of his 
duty, sometimes feels himself under a very solemn responsibili¬ 
ty. His patient is in a critical state, where a little error will 
destroy life, and he hangs quivering between life and death. If 
such responsibility is felt in relation to the body, what awful 
responsibility should be felt in relation to the soul, when it is 
seen to hang trembling on a point, and its destiny is now to be 
decided. One false impression, one indiscreet remark, one sen¬ 
tence misunderstood, a slight diversion of mind, may wear him 
the wrong way, and his soul is lost. Never was an angel em¬ 
ployed iri a more solemn work, than that of dealing with 
sinners who are under conviction. How solemnly and care¬ 
fully then should Christians walk, how wisely and skill¬ 
fully work, if they do not mean to be the means of damning a 
soul! 

Finally. —If there is a sinner in this house, let me say to 
him, Abandon all your excuses. You have been told to-night 
that they are all vain. To-night it will be told in hell, and told 
in heaven, and echoed from the ends of the universe, what you 
decide to do. This very hour may seal your eternal destii y. 
Will you submit to God to-night —now? 


LECTURE XI. 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 

Text. u He that winneth souls is wise.”— Proverbs xi. 30. 

I preached last Friday evening from the same text, on the 
method of dealing with sinners by private Christians. My ob¬ 
ject at this time is to take up the more public means of grace, 
with particular reference to the 

DUTIES OF MINISTERS. 

As I observed in my last lecture, wisdom is the appropriate 
adaptation of means for securing a desired end. The great end 
for which the Christian Ministry was appointed, is to glorify 
God in the salvation of souls. In speaking on this subject I 
propose to show, 

I. That a right discharge of the duties of a minister requires 
great wisdom. 

II. That the amount of success in the discharge of his duties 
{other things being equal) decides the amount of wisdom em¬ 
ployed by him in the exercise of his office. 

I. I am to show that a right discharge of the duties of a min¬ 
ister requires great wisdom. 

1. On account of the opposition it encounters. The very end 
for which the ministry is appointed is one against which is ar¬ 
rayed the most powerful opposition of sinners themselves. If 
men were willing to receive the gospel, and there were nothing 
needed to be done but to tell the story of redemption, a child 
might convey the news. But men are opposed to the gospel. 
They are opposed to their own salvation, in this way. Their 
opposition is often violent and determined. I once saw a maniac 
who had formed designs against his own life, and he would ex¬ 
ercise the utmost sagacity and cunning to effect his purpose. 
He would be as artful, and make his keepers believe he had no 
such design, that he had given it all up, and would appear as 
mild and sober, and at the instant the keeper was off his guard 
he would lay hands on himself. So sinners often exercise great 
cunning in evading all the efforts that are made to save them. 
And to meet this dreadful cunning, and overcome it so as to save 
men, ministers need a great amount of wisdom. 

14* 


162 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


2. The particular means appointed to be employed in the 
work, show the necessity of great wisdom in ministers. If men 
were converted by an act of physical omnipotence, creating some 
new taste, or something like that, and if sanctification were 
nothing but the same physical omnipotence rooting out the re¬ 
maining roots of sin from the soul, it would not require so much 
sagacity and skill to win souls. Nor would there then he any 
meaning in the text. But the truth is, that regeneration and 
sanctification are to be effected by moral means—by argument 
and not by force. There never was and never will he any one 
saved by any thing but truth as the means. Truth is the out¬ 
ward means, the outward motive, presented first by man and 
then by the Holy Spirit. Take into view the opposition of the 
sinner himself, and you see that nothing, after all, short of the 
wisdom of God and the moral power of the Holy Spirit, can 
break down this opposition, and bring him to submit to God. 
Still the means are to be used by men, and means adapted to 
the end, skillfully used. God has provided that the work of 
conversion and sanctification shall in all cases he done by means 
of that kind of truth, applied in that connection and relation, 
which is fitted to produce such a result. 

3. He has the powers of earth and hell to overcome, and that 
calls for wisdom. The devil is constantly at work, trying to 
prevent the success of ministers, laboring to divert the attention 
from the subject of religion, and to get the sinner away from 
God and lead him down to hell. The whole frame-work of 
society, almost, is hostile to religion. Nearly all the influences 
which surround a man, from his cradle to his grave, in the pre¬ 
sent state of society, are calculated to defeat the design of the 
ministry. Does not a minister then need great wisdom, to con¬ 
flict with the powers of darkness and the whole influence of the 
world, in addition to the sinner’s own opposition? 

3. The same is seen from the infinite importance of the end 
itself. The end of the ministry, is the salvation of the soul. 
When we consider the importance of the end, and the difficulties 
of the work, who will not say with the apostle, “ Who is suffi¬ 
cient for these things 

4. He must understand how to wake up the church, and get 
them out of the way of the conversion of sinners. This is often 
the most difficult part of a ministers work, and requires more 
wisdom and patience than any thing else. Indeed, to do this 
successfully, is a most rare qualification in the Christian minis¬ 
try. It is a point where almost all ministers fail. They know 
not how to wake up the church, and raise the tone of piety 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 163 

to a high standard, and thus clear the way for the work of con¬ 
version. Many ministers can preach to sinners very well, but 
gain little success, while the counteracting influence of the 
church resists it all, and they have not skill enough to remove 
the difficulty. There is only here and there a minister in the 
country, who knows how to probe the church when they are in a 
cold, backslidden state, so as effectually to wake them up, and 
keep them awake. The members of the church sin against 
such light, that when they become cold it is very difficult to rouse 
them up. They have a form of piety which wards off the truth, 
while at the same time it is just that kind of piety which has no 
power nor efficiency. Such professors are the most difficult in¬ 
dividuals to arouse from their slumbers. I do not mean that 
they are always more wicked than the impenitent. They are 
often employed about the machinery of religion, and pass for 
very good Christians, but are of no use in a revival. 

I know ministers are sometimes amazed to hear it said that 
churches are not awake. No wonder such ministers do not 
know how to wake a sleeping church. There was a young 
licentiate heard brother Foote the other day, in this city, pour¬ 
ing out truth, and trying to wake up the churches, and he knew 
so little about it, that he thought it was abusing the churches. So 
perfectly blind was he that he really thought the churches in 
New York were all awake on the subject of religion. So some 
years ago there was a great controversy and opposition raised, 
because so much was said about the churches being asleep. It 
was all truth, yet many ministers knew nothing about it, and 
were astonished to hear such things said about the churches. 
When it has come to this, that ministers do not know when the 
church is asleep, no wonder that we have no revivals. I was 
invited once to preach at a certain place. I asked the minister 
what was the state of the church. “ O,” says he, “ to a man 
they are awake.” I was delighted at the idea of laboring in 
such a church, for it was a sight I had never yet seen, to see 
every single member awake in a revival. But when I got there, 
I found the church sleepy and cold, and I doubt whether one of 
them was awake. 

Here is the great difficulty in keeping up revivals, to keep 
the church thoroughly awake and engaged. It is one thing for 
a church to get up in their sleep, and bluster about and run over 
each other; and a widely different thing for them to have their 
eyes open, and their senses about them, and be wide awake, so 
as to know how to find God, and how to work for Christ. 

5. He must know how to set the church to work , when they 


164 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


are awake. If a minister attempts to go to work alone, calcu¬ 
lating to do it all himself, it is like attempting to roll a great stone 
up a hill alone. The church can do much to help forward a 
revival. Churches have sometimes had powerful revivals with¬ 
out any minister. But when a minister has a church who are 
awake, and knows how to set them to work, and how to sit at 
the helm and guide them, he may feel strong, and oftentimes 
may find that they do more than he does himself, in the conver¬ 
sion of sinners. 

6. In order to be successful, a minister needs great wisdom to 
know how to keep the church to the work. Often the church 
seem just like children. You set children to work, and they 
appear to be all engaged, but as soon as your back is turned, 
they will stop and go to play. The great difficulty in continuing 
a revival, lies here. And to meet it requires great wisdom. To 
know how to break them down again, when their heart gets 
lifted up because they have had such a great revival; to wake 
them up afresh when their zeal begins to flag; to keep their 
hearts full of zeal for the work; these are some of the most dif¬ 
ficult things in the world. Yet if a minister would be success¬ 
ful in winning souls, he must know when they first begin to 
grow proud, or to lose the spirit of prayer, and when to probe 
them, and how to search them over again, how to keep the 
church in the field, gathering the .harvest of the Lord. 

7. He must understand the gospel. But you will ask, Do 
not all ministers understand the gospel ? I answer, that they 
certainly do not all understand it alike, for they do not all 
preach alike. 

8. He must know how to divide it, so as to bring forward 
the particular truths, in that order, and to make them bear upon 
those points and at such times, as are calculated to produce a 
given result. A minister should understand the philosophy of 
the human mind, so as to know how to plan and arrange his 
labors wisely. Truth, when brought to bear upon the^mind, 
is in itself calculated to produce corresponding feelings. The 
minister must know what feelings he wishes to produce, and 
how to bring such truth to bear as is calculated to produce these 
feelings. He must know how to present truth calculated to 
humble Christians, or to make them feel for sinners, or to 
awaken sinners, or to convert them. 

Often, when sinners are awakened, the ground is lost for the 
want of wisdom in following up the blow. Perhaps a rousing 
sermon is preached, Christians are moved, and sinners begin 
to feel, and the next Sabbath something will be brought for- 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL, 165 

ward that has no connection with the state of feeling in the 
congregation, and that is not calculated to lead the mind on to 
the exercise of right feelings. It shows how important it is 
that a minister should understand how to produce a given im¬ 
pression, at what time it may and should be done, and by what 
truth, and how to follow it up, till the sinner is broken down 
and brought in, 

A great many good sermons preached, are all lost for the 
want of a little wisdom here. They are good sermons, and 
calculated, if well timed, to do great good; but they have so 
little connection with the actual state of feeling in the congre¬ 
gation, that it would be more than a miracle' if they should 
produce a revival. A minister may preach in this random 
way till he has preached himself to death, and never produce 
any great rosults. lie may convert here and there a scattering 
soul; but he will not move the mass of the congregation, unless 
he knows how to follow' up his impressions, to carry out a plan 
of operations and execute it, so as to carry on the work when 
it is begun. He must not only be able to blow the trumpet so 
loud as to start the sinner up from his lethargy, but when he 
is w'aked, he must lead him by the shortest way to Jesus 
Christ. And not as soon as sinners are roused by a sermon, 
immediately begin to preach about some remote subject, that 
has no tendency to carry on the work. 

9. To reach different classes of sinners successfully , requires 
great wisdom on the part of a minister. For instance, a ser¬ 
mon on a particular subject may start a particular class of per¬ 
sons among his hearers. Perhaps they will begin to look 
serious, or perhaps talk about it, or perhaps they will begin to 
cavil about it. Now, if the minister is w r ise, he will know how 
to observe those indications, and to follow right on with ser¬ 
mons adapted to this class, until he leads them into the king¬ 
dom of God. Then let him go back and take another class, 
find out where they are hid, break down their refuges, and fol¬ 
low them up, till he leads them into the kingdom of God. He 
should thus beat about every bush where sinners hide them¬ 
selves, as the voice of God followed Adam in the garden— 
“ Adam, where art thou ?” till one class of hearers after 
another are brought in, and so the whole community converted. 
Now a minister must be very wdse to do this. It never will 
be done so, till a minister sets himself to hunt out and bring in 
every class of sinners in his congregation, the old and young, 
male and female, rich and poor. 

10. A minister needs great wisdom to get signers aw r ayfrom 


166 A WISE MINISTER WILL RE SUCCESSFUL. 

their present refuges of lies, without forming new hiding places 
for them. I once sat under the ministry of a man who had 
contracted a great alarm about heresies, and was constantly em¬ 
ployed in confuting them. And he used to bring up many 
such heresies as his people never heard of. He got his ideas 
chiefly from books, and mingled very little among the people 
to know what they thought. And the result of his labors often 
was, that the people would be taken with the heresy, more than 
with the argument against it. The novelty of the error attracted 
their attention so much that they forgot the answer. And in 
that way, he gave many of his people new objections against re¬ 
ligion, such as they never thought of before. If a man does not 
mingle enough with mankind to know how people think now-a- 
days, bp cannot expect to be wise to meet their objections and 
difficulties. ^ 

I have heard a great deal of preaching against Universalists, 
that did more hurt than good, because the preachers did not un¬ 
derstand how Universalists of the present day reason. They 
have never mingled with Universalists, and know not w r hat they 
believe and how-they argue, now , but have got all they know of 
Universalism from books that were written long ago, and are 
now out of date among Universalists themselves. And the conse¬ 
quence, is that when they attempt to preach against Universalism 
they oppose a man of straw, and not Universalist sentiments as 
they are now found in the community. And people either laugh 
at them,' or say it is all lies, for they know Universalists do not 
hold such sentiments as are ascribed to them by the preacher. 

When ministers undertake to oppose a present heresy, they 
ought to know what it is at present. For instance, almost all 
those who write and preach against Universalism think they 
are called upon to oppose the idea that God is all mercy. They 
suppose Universalists hold the doctrine that God is all mercy, 
and that when they have refuted this doctrine, they have got Uni¬ 
versalists down. But this is not true. They do not hold such 
doctrine. They deny it altogether. They reject the idea of 
mercy in the salvation of men, for they hold that evei'y man is 
punished in full according to his just deserts. Of what use is 
it then, to argue against Universalists, that God is a God of jus¬ 
tice and not a God all mercy, when they hold to the justice of 
God alone as the ground of salvation, and do not admit the idea 
of mercy at all? In like manner, I have heard men preach 
against the.idea that men are saved in their sins, and they sup¬ 
posed they were preaching down Universalist doctrine. * Uni¬ 
versalists believe no such thing. They believe that all men 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 167 

will be made holy, and saved in that way. This shows the im¬ 
portance of knowing what people actually hold, before you try 
to reason them out of their errors. It is of no use to misrepre¬ 
sent a man’s doctrines to his face, and then try to reason him 
out of them. You milst state his doctrine just as he holds it, 
and state his arguments fairly. Otherwise, if you state them 
wrong, you either make him angry, or he laughs in his sleeve 
at the advantage you give him. He will say, That man can’t 
argue with me on fair grounds; he has to misrepresent our 
doctrines in order to confute me. Great hurt is done in this 
way. Ministers do not intend to misrepresent their opponents ; 
but the effect of it is, that the poor miserable creatures who 
hold these errors go to hell, because ministers do not take care 
to inform themselves what are their real errors. Errors are 
never torn away by such a process. I mention these cases, to 
show how much wisdom a minister must have to meet the cases 
that occur. He must be acquainted with the real views of 
men in order to meet them, and do away their errors and mis¬ 
takes. 

11. Ministers ought to know what measures are best calcula¬ 
ted to aid in accomplishing the great end of their office, the 
salvation of souls. Some measures are plainly necessary. By 
measures I mean what things should be done to get the atten¬ 
tion of the people, and bring them to listen to the truth. Build¬ 
ing houses for worship, and visiting from house to house, &c. 
are all “measures,” the object of which is to get the attention of 
people to the gospel. Much wisdom is requisite to devise 
and carry forward all the various measures that are adapted to 
favor the success of the gospel. 

What d 6 the politicians do ? They get up meetings, circu¬ 
late handbills and pamphlets, blaze away in the newspapers, 
send their ships about the streets on wheels with flags and sail¬ 
ors, send coaches all over town, with handbills, to bring people 
up to the polls, all to gain attention to their cause and elect their 
candidate. All these are their “measures,” and for their end 
they are wisely calculated. The object is to get up an excite¬ 
ment, and bring the people out. They know that unless there 
can be an excitement it is in vain to push their end. I do not 
mean to say that their measures are pious, or right, but only 
that they are wise, in the sense that they are the appropriate 
application of means to the end. 

The object of the ministry is to get all the people to feel that 
the devil has no right to rule this world, but that they ought all 
to give themselves to God, and vote in the Lord Jesus Christ as 


168 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


the governor of the universe. Now what shall be done? What 
measures shall we take? Says one, “ Be sure and have nothing 
that is new.” Strange! The object of our measures is to gain 
attention, and you must have something new. As sure as the 
effect of a measure becomes stereotyped, it ceases to gain atten¬ 
tion, and then you must try something new. You need not 
make innovations in every thing. But whenever the state of 
things is such that any thing more is needed, it must be some¬ 
thing new , otherwise it will fail. A minister should never in¬ 
troduce innovations that are not called for. If he does, they 
will embarrass him. He cannot alter the gospel; that remains 
the same. But new measures are necessary from time to time, 
to awaken attention, and bring the gospel to bear upon the pub¬ 
lic mind. And then a minister ought to know how to introduce 
new things, so as to create the least possible resistance or reac¬ 
tion. Mankind are fond of form in religion. They love to 
have their religious duties stereotyped, so as to leave them at 
ease. And they are therefore inclined to resist any new move¬ 
ment, designed to rouse them up to action and feeling. Hence 
it is all-important to introduce new things wisely, so as not to 
give needless occasion or apology for resistance. 

12. Not a little wisdom is sometimes needed by a minister, 
to know ichcn to put a stop to new measures. When a measure 
has novelty enough to secure attention to the truth, ordinarily 
no other new measure should be introduced. You have secured 
the great object of novelty. Any thing more will be in danger 
of diverting the public mind away from the great object, and 
fixing it on the measures themselves. And then, if you intro¬ 
duce novelties when they are not called for, you will go over 
so large a field, that by and by when you really want something 
new, you will have nothing else to introduce, without doing 
something that will give too great a shock to the public mind. 
The Bible has laid down no specific course of measures to pro¬ 
mote revivals of religion, but has left it to ministers to adopt 
such as are wisely calculated to secure the end. And the more 
sparing we are of our new things, the longer we can use them, 
to keep public attention awake to the great subject of religion. 
By a wise course this may undoubtedly be done for a long se¬ 
ries of years, until our present measures will by and by have 
sufficient novelty in them again, to attract and fix public atten¬ 
tion. And so we shall never want for something new. 

13. A minister, to win souls, must know how to deal with 
careless , with awakened, and with anxious sinners, so as to lead 
them right to Christ in the shortest and most direct way. It is 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 169 

amazing to see how many ministers there are who do not know 
how to deal with sinners, or what to say to them in their various 
states of mind. A good woman in Albany told me, that when 
she was under concern she went to her minister, and asked 
him to tell her what she must do to get relief. And he said 
Gad had not given him much experience on the subject, and ad¬ 
vised her to go to such a deacon, who perhaps could tell her 
what to do. The truth was, he did not know what to say to a 
sinner under conviction, although there was nothing peculiar in 
her case. Now if you think this minister a rare case, you are 
quite deceived. There are many ministers who do not know 
what to say to sinners. 

A minister once appointed an anxious meeting, and went to 
attend it, and instead of going round to the individuals, he be¬ 
gan to ask them the catechism, “ Wherein doth Christ execute 
the office of a priest ?” About as much in point to a great 
many of their minds as any thing else. 

I know a minister who held an anxious meeting, and went 
to attend it with a written discourse , which he had prepared 
for the occasion. Just as wise as it would be if a physician, 
going out to visit his patients, should sit down At leisure and 
write all the prescriptions befpre he had seen them. A minis¬ 
ter needs to know the state of mind of the individuals, before he 
can know what truth will be proper and useful to administer. 
I say these things, not because I love to do it, but because 
truth, and the object before me, requires them to be said. And 
such instances as I have mentioned are by no means rare. 

A minister should know how to apply truth to all the situa¬ 
tions in which he may find dying sinners going down to hell. 
He should know how to preach, how to pray, how to conduct 
prayer meetings, and how to use all the means for bringing the 
truth of God to bear upon the kingdom of darkness. Does not 
this require wisdom? And who is sufficient for these things? 

II. The amount of a minister’s success in winning souls 
[other things being equal ) invariably decides the amount of 
wisdom he has exercised in the discharge of his office. 

1. This is plainly asserted in the text. “He that winneth 
souls is wise.” That is, if a man wins souls, he does skill¬ 
fully adapt means to the end, which is, to exercise wisdom. 
He is the more wise, by how much the greater is the number 
of sinners that he saves. A blockhead may indeed now and 
then stumble on such truth, or such a manner of exhibiting it, 
as to save a soul. It would be a wonder indeed if any minister 
did not sometimes have something in his sermons that would 

15 



170 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


meet the case of some individual. But the amount of 
wisdom is to be decided, “ other things being equal,” by the 
number of cases in whicji he is successful in converting sin* 
ners. 

Take the case of a physician. The greatest quack in New 
York may now and then stumble upon a remarkable cure, and 
so get his name up with the ignorant. But sober and judicious 
people judge of the skill of a physician by the uniformity of 
his success in overcoming disease, the variety of diseases he can 
manage, and the number of cases in which he is successful in 
saving his patients. The most skillful saves the most. This 
is common sense. It is truth. And it is just as true in regard 
to success in saving souls, and true in just the same sense. 

2. This principle is not only asserted in the text, but it is a 
matter of fact , a historical truth, that “ He that winneth souls 
is wise.” He has actually employed means adapted to the end, 
in such a way as to secure the end. 

3. Success in saving souls is evidence that a man understands 
the gospel, and understands human nature, that he knows how 
to adapt means to his end, that he has common sense, and that 
he has that kind of tact, that practical discernment, to know 
how to get at people. And if his success is extensive, it shows 
that he knows how to deal with a great variety of characters, 
in a great variety of circumstances, who are yet all the enemies 
of God, and to bring them to Christ. To do this, requires 
great wisdom. And the minister who does it, shows that he 
is wise. 

4. Success in winning souls shows that a minister not only 
knows how to labor wisely for that end, but also, that he knoios 
where his dependence is. You know that fears are often ex¬ 
pressed respecting those ministers who are aiming most directly 
and earnestly for the conversion of sinners. People say, 
“ Why, this man is going to work in his own strength; one 
would imagine he thinks he can convert souls himself.” How 
often has the event showed that the man knows what he is 
about, very well, and knows where his strength is too. He 
went to work to convert sinners so earnestly, just as if he could 
do it all himself; but that was the very way he should do. 
He ought to reason with sinners, and plead with them, as faith¬ 
fully and fully, as if he did not expect any interposition of the 
Spirit of God, or as if he knew there was no Holy Ghost. But 
whenever a man does this successfully, it shows that, after all, 
he knows he must depend on the Spirit of God alone for success. 

Objection. —There are many who feel an objection against 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 171 

this subject, arising out of the view they have taken of the min¬ 
istry of Jesus Christ. They ask us, “ What will you say about 
the ministry of Jesus Christ, was not he wise?” I answer, 
Yes, infinitely wise. But in regard to his alleged want of 
success in the conversion of sinners, you will observe the fol¬ 
lowing things: 

(l.) That his ministry was vastly more successful than is 
generally supposed. We read in one of the sacred writers, that 
after his resurrection and before his ascension “ he was seen by 
above five hundred brethren at once.” If so many as five hun¬ 
dred brethren were found assembled together at one place, we 
see there must have been a vast number of them scattered over 
the country. 

(2.) Another circumstance^to be observed is, that his public 
ministry was very short , less than three years. 

(3.) Consider thepeculiar design of his ministry. His main 
object was to make atonement for the sins of the world. It was 
not aimed so much at promoting revivals. The “ dispensation 
of the Spirit” was not yet given. He did not preach the gospel 
so fully as his apostles did afterwards. The prejudices of the 
people were so fixed and violent that they would not bear it. 
That he did not, is plain from the fact that even his apostles, 
who were constantly with him, did not understand the atone¬ 
ment. They did not get the idea that he was going to die, and 
consequently, when they heard he was actually dead, they were 
driven to despair, and thought the thing was all gone by, and 
their hopes blown to the winds. The fact was, that hq had 
another object in vifew, to which every thing else was made to 
yield, and the perverted state of the public mind, and the obsti¬ 
nate prejudices ‘prevailing, showed why results were not seen 
any more in the conversion of sinners. The state of public 
opinion was such, that they finally murdered him for what he 
did preach. 

Many ministers who have little or no success, are hiding 
themselves behind the ministry of Jesus Christ, as if he was an 
unsuccessful preacher. Whereas, in fact, he was eminently 
successful, considering the circumstances in which he labored. 
This is the last place in all the world where a minister who 
has no success should think of hiding himself. 

REMARKS. 

1. A minister may be very learned and not wise. There are 
many ministers possessed of great learning ; they understand all 
the sciences, physical, moral, and theological; they may know 


172 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


the dead languages, and possess all learning, and yet not be wise, 
in relation to-the great end about which they are chiefly em¬ 
ployed. Facts clearly demonstrate this. “ He that winneth 
souls is wise.” 

2. An unsuccessful minister may be pious as well as learned, 
and yet not wise. It is unfair to infer because a minister is 
unsuccessful, that therefore he is a hypocrite. There may be 
something defective in his education, or in his mode of viewing 
a subject, or of exhibiting it, or such a want of common sense , as 
will defeat his labors, and prevent his success in winning souls, 
while he himself may be saved—“ yet so as by fire.” 

3. A minister may be very wise , though he is not learned. 
He may not understand the dead languages, or theology in its 
common acceptation; and yet he may know just what a minis¬ 
ter of the gospel wants most to know, without knowing many 
other things. A learned minister and a wise minister are dif¬ 
ferent things. Facts in the history of the church in all ages 
prove this. It is very common for churches, when looking out 
for a minister, to aim at getting a very learned man. Do not 
understand me to disparage learning. The more learning the 
better, if he is also wise in the great matter he is employed 
about. If a minister knows how to win souls, the more learn¬ 
ing he has the better. But if he has any other kind of learning, 
and not this , he will infallibly fail of the end of his ministry. 

4. Want of success in a minister ( other things being equal ) 
proves, (1.) either that he was never called to preach, and has 
taken it up out of his own head; or (2.) that he was badly edu¬ 
cated, and was never taught the very things he wants most to 
know; or (3,) if he was called to preach, and knows how to do 
his duty, he is too indolent and too wicked to do it. 

5. Those are the best educated ministers , who win the most 
60 uls. Ministers are sometimes looked down upon, and called very 
ignorant, because they do not know the sciences and languages; 
although they are very far from being ignorant of the great 
thing for which the ministry is appointed. This is wrong. 
Learning is important, and always usefulr But after all, a min¬ 
ister may know how to win souls to Christ, without great 
learning, and he has the'best education/or a minister , who can 
win the most souls to Christ. 

6. There is evidently a great defect in the present mode of 
educating ministers. This is a SOLEMN FACT, to which 
the attention of the whole church should be distinctly called; 
that the great mass of young ministers who are educated ac¬ 
complish very little. 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


173 


When young men come out from the seminaries, are they 
fit to go into a revival? Look at a place where there has 
been a revival in progress, and a minister is wanted. Let them 
send to a theological seminary for a minister. Will he enter 
into the work, and sustain it, and carry it on ? Seldom. Like 
David with Saul’s armor, he comes in with such a load of theo¬ 
logical trumpery, that he knows nothing what to do. Leave 
him there for two weeks, and the revival is at an end. The 
churches know and feel, that the greater part of these young 
men do not know how to do any thing that needs to be done for 
a revival, and they are complaining that the young ministers are 
so far behind the church. You may send all over the United 
States, to theological seminaries, and find but few young minis¬ 
ters fitted to carry forward the work. What a state of things ! 

There is a grand defect in educating ministers. Education 
ougjit to be such, as to prepare young men for the peculiar work to 
which they are destined. But instead of this, they are educated 
for any thing else. The grand mistake is this. They direct the 
mind too much to irrelevant matters , which are not necessary to 
be attended to. In their courses of study, they carry the mind 
over too wide a field, which diverts their attention from the main 
thing, and so they get cold in religion, and when they get through, 
instead of being fitted for their work, they are unfitted for it. Un¬ 
der pretence of disciplining the mind, they in fact scatter the 
attention, so that when they come to their work, they are awk¬ 
ward, and know nothing how to take hold, or how to act, to win 
souls. This is not universally the case, but too often it is so. 

It is common for people to talk loudly and largely about an 
educated ministry. God forbid that I should say a word against 
an educated ministry. But what do we mean by an education for 
the ministry ? Do we mean that they should be so educated, as 
to be fitted for the work ? If they are so educated, the more edu¬ 
cation the better. Let education be of the right kind, teaching a 
young man the things he wants to know, and not the very things 
he don’t want to know. Let them be educated for the work. Do 
not let education be such, that when young men come out, after 
spending six, eight, or ten years in study, they are not worth 
half as much as they were before they went. I have known 
young men come out after what they call “ a thorough course,” 
who were not fit to take charge of a prayer meeting, and who 
could not manage a prayer meeting, so as to make it profitable 
or interesting. An elder of a church in a neighboring city, in¬ 
formed me recently of a case in point. A young man, before 
he went to the seminary, had labored as a layman with them, con- 

15* 


174 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


ducted their prayer meetings, and had been exceedingly useful 
among them. After he had been to the seminary, they sent for 
him and desired his help ; but O, how changed ! he was so com¬ 
pletely transformed, that he made no impression ^ the church 
soon began to complain that they should die under his influences, 
and he left, because he was not prepared for the work. 

It is common for those ministers who have been to the semi¬ 
naries, and are now useful, to affirm that their course of studies 
there did them little or no good, and that they had to unlearn 
what they had there learned, before they could effect much. I 
do not say this censoriously, hut it is a solemn fact, and I must say 
it in love. 

Suppose you were going to make a man a surgeon in the 
navy. Instead of sending him to the medical school to learn 
surgery, would you send him to the nautical school to learn na¬ 
vigation? In this way, you might qualify him to navigate a 
ship, but he is no surgeon. Ministers should be educatea to 
know what the Bible is, and what the human mind is, and know 
how to bring one to bear on the other. They should be brought 
into contact with mind, and made familiar with all the aspects 
of society. They should have the Bible in one hand, and the 
map of the hyman mind in the other, and know how to use the 
truth for the salvation of men. 

7. A want of common sense often defeats the ends of the 
Christian ministry. There are many good men in the ministry, 
who have learning, and talents of a certain sort, but they have no 
common sense to win souls. 

8 . We see one great defect in our theological schools.— 
Young men are shut up in their schools, confined to books 
and shut out from intercourse with the common people, or con¬ 
tact with the common mind. Hence they are not familiar 
with the mode in which common people think. This accounts 
for the fact that some plain men, that have been brought up to 
business, and acquainted with human nature, are ten times bet¬ 
ter qualified to win souls than those who are educated on the 
present principle, and are in fact ten times as well acquainted 
with the proper business of the ministry. These are called 
“uneducated men.” This is a grand mistake. They are not 
learned in science, hut they are learned in the very things 
which they need to know as ministers. They are not ignorant 
ministers, for they know exactly how to reach the mind with 
truth. They understand the minds of men, and how to adapt 
the gospel to their case. They are better furnished for their 
work, than if they,had all the machinery of the schools. 




\ WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 175 

I wish to be understood. I do not say, that I would not have 
o young man go to school. Nor would I discourage him from 
going 1 ' over the field of science. The more the better, if togeth¬ 
er with it he learns also the things that the minister needs to 
know, in order to win souls,—if he understands his Bible, and 
understands human nature, and knows how to bring the truth to 
bear, and how to guide and manage minds, and to lead them 
away from sin and lead them to God. 

9. The success of any measure designed to promote a revival of 
religion, demonstrates its wisdom; with the following exceptions : 

(1.) A measure may be introduced for effect to produce ex¬ 
citement, and be such that when it is looked back upon after¬ 
wards, it will look nonsensical, and appear to have been a mere 
trick. In that case, it will re-act, and its introduction will do 
more hurt than good. 

(2.) Measures may be introduced, and the revival be very 
powerful, and the success be attributed to the measures , when in 
fact other things made the revival powerful, and these very 
measures may have been a hinderance. The prayers of Chris¬ 
tians, and the preaching, and other things may have been so 
well calculated to carry on the work, that it has succeeded in 
spite of these measures. 

But when the blessing evidently follows the introduction of 
the measure itself the proof is unanswerable, that the measure 
is wise. It is profane to say that such a measure will do more 
hurt than good. God knows about that. His object is, to do 
the greatest amount of good possible. And of course he will 
not add his blessing to a measure that will do more hurt than 
good. He may sometimes withhold his blessing from a mea¬ 
sure that is calculated to do some good, because it will be at the 
expense of a greater good. But he never will bless a pernicious 
proceeding. There is no such thing as deceiving God in the 
matter. He knows whether a given measure is on, the whole, 
wise, or not. He may bless a course of labors notwithstand¬ 
ing some unwise or injurious measures. But if he blesses the 
measure itself it is rebuking God to pronounce it unwise. He 
who undertakes to do this, let him look to the matter. 

10. It is evident that much fault has been found with mea¬ 
sures, which have been preeminently and continually blessed 
of God for the promotion of revivals. We know it is said 
that the horrid oaths of a profane swearer have been the means 
of awakening another less hardened sinner. But this is a rare 
case. God does not usually make such a use of profanity. But 
if a measure is continually or usually blessed, let the man who 


176 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


thinks he is wiser than God, call it in question. TAKE 
CARE ! how you find fault with God. 

11 . Christians should pray for ministers. Brethren, ii you 
felt how much ministers need wisdom to perform the duties of 
their great office with success, and how ignorant they all are, 
and how insufficient they are of themselves, to think any thing 
as of themselves, you would pray for them a great deal more 
than you do ; that is, if you cared any thing for the success of 
their labors. People often find fault with ministers, when they 
don’t pray for them. Brethren, this is tempting God, for you 
ought not to expect any better ministers, unless you pray for 
them. And you ought not to expect a blessing on the labors of 
your minister, or to have your families converted by his preach¬ 
ing, where you do not pray for him. And so for others, the 
waste places, and the heathen, instead of praying all the time, 
only that God would send out more laborers, you have need to 
pray that God would make ministers wise to win souls , and 
that those he sends out may be 'properly educated, so that they 
shall be scribes well instructed in the kingdom of God. 

12 . Those laymen in the church who know howto win souls 
are to be counted wise. They should not be called “ignorant 
laymen.” And those church members who do not know how 
to convert sinners, and who cannot win souls, should not be 
called wise —as Christians. They are not wise Christians; 
only “ he that winneth souls is wise.” They may be learned 
in politics, in all sciences, or they may be skilled in the man¬ 
agement of business, or other things, and they may look down 
on those who win souls, as nothing but plain, simple-hearted 
and ignorant men. If any of you are inclined to do this, and 
to undervalue those brethren who win souls, as being not so 
wise and cunning as you are, you deceive yourselves. They 
may not know some things which you know. But they know 
those things which a Christian is most concerned to know, and 
you do not. 

It may be illustrated by the case of a minister that goes to 
sea. He may be learned in science, but he knows nothing how 
to sail a ship. And he begins to ask the sailors about this thing 
and that, and what is this rope for, and the like. “ Why,” say 
the sailors, “ these are not ropes, we have only one rope in a 
ship, these are the rigging, the man talks like a fool.” And so 
this learned man becomes a laughing-stock, perhaps, to the 
sailors, because he does not know how to sail a ship. But if 
he were to tell them one half of what he knows about science, 
perhaps they would think him a conjurer, to know so much. 


A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


177 


So learned students may understand their hie , hcec, hoc , very 
well, and may laugh at the humble Christian, and call him 
ignorant, although he may know how to win more souls than 
five hundred of them. 

I was once distressed and grieved at hearing a minister bear¬ 
ing down upon a young preacher, who had been converted 
under remarkable circumstances, and who was licensed to 
preach, without pursuing a regular course of study. This min¬ 
ister, who was never, or at least very rarely known to con¬ 
vert a soul, bore down upon the young man in a very lordly, 
censorious manner, depreciating him because he had not had 
the advantage of a liberal education, when in fact he was in¬ 
strumental in converting more souls than any five hundred 
ministers like himself. 

I would say nothing to undervalue, or lead you to undervalue 
a thorough education for ministers. But I do not call that a 
thorough education, which they get in our colleges and semi¬ 
naries. It does not fit them for their work. I appeal to all 
experience, whether our young men in seminaries are tho¬ 
roughly educated for the purpose of winning souls. Do they 
do it? Every body knows they do not. Look at the reports 
of the Home Missionary Society. If I recollect right, in 1830, the 
number of conversions in connection with the labors of the mis¬ 
sionaries of that society did not exceed five to each missionary. 
I believe the number has increased since, but is still exceed¬ 
ingly small to what it would have been had they been fitted by 
a right course of training for their work. I do not say this to 
reproach them, for from my" heart I pity them, and I pity the 
church for being under the necessity of supporting ministers so 
trained, or none at all. They are the best men the Missionary 
Society can obtain. I suppose, of course, that I shall be re¬ 
proached for saying this. But it is too true and too painful to 
be concealed. Those fathers who have the training of our 
young ministers are good men, but they are ancient men, men 
of another age and stamp, from what is needed in these days of 
excitement, when the church and world are rising to new 
thought and action. Those dear fathers will not, I suppose, 
see this; and will perhaps think hard gf me for saying it; but 
it is the cause of Christ. Some of them are getting back 
toward second childhood, and ought to resign, and give place 
to younger men, who are not rendered physically incapable, 
by age, of keeping pace with the onward movements of the 
church. And here I would say, that to my own mind, it ap¬ 
pears evident, that unless our theological professors preach a 


178 A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 

good deal, mingle much with the church, and sympathise with 
her in all her movements, it is morally, if not naturally impos¬ 
sible, that they should succeed in training young men to the 
spirit of the age. It is a shame and a sin, that theological pro¬ 
fessors, who preach but seldom, who are withdrawn from the 
active duties of the ministry, should sit in their studies and 
write their letters, advisory, or dictatorial, to ministers and 
churches who are in the field, and who are in circumstances to 
judge what needs to be done. The men who spend all or at 
least a portion of their time in the active duties of the ministry, 
are the only men who are able to judge of what is expedient 
or inexpedient, prudent or imprudent, as to measures from time 
to time. And it is as dangerous and ridiculous for our theolo¬ 
gical professors, who are withdrawn from the field of conflict, 
to be allowed to dictate, in regard to the measures and move¬ 
ments of the church, as it would be for a general to sit in his 
bed-chamber and attempt to order a battle. 

Two ministers were one day conversing about another min¬ 
ister whose labors were greatly blessed in the conversion of 
some thousands of souls. One of them said, “ That man ought 
not to preach any more; he should stop and go to” a particular 
theological seminary which he named, “ and go through a regu¬ 
lar course of study.” He said the man had “ a good mind, and 
if he was thoroughly educated, he might be very useful.” The 
other replied, “ Do you think he would be more useful for going 
to that seminary? I challenge you to-show by facts that any 
are more useful who have been there. No, sir, the fact is, that 
since this man has been in the ministry, he has been instrumen¬ 
tal in converting more souls than all the young men who have 
come from that seminary in the time.” * This is logic! Stop, 
and go to a seminary, to prepare himself for converting souls, 
when he is now converting more than all who come from the 
seminary! 

Finally —I wish to ask you, before I sit down, who among 
you can lay any claim to the possession of this Divine wisdom? 
Who among you, laymen ? Who among you, ministers ? Can 
any of you? Can I? Are we at work, wisely, to win souls? 
Or are we trying to make ourselves believe that success is no 
criterion of wisdom ? It is a criterion. It is a safe criterion for 
every minister to try himselfby. The amount of his success, 
other things being equal , measures the amount of wisdom he 
has exercised in the discharge of his office. 

How few of you have ever had wisdom enough to convert 
so much as a single sinner! 



A WISE MINISTER WILL BE SUCCESSFUL. 


179 


Don’t say now, “ I cannot convert sinners; how can I con¬ 
vert sinners? God alone can convert sinners.” Look at the 
text, “ He that winneth souls is wise,” and do not think you can 
escape the sentence. It is true that God converts sinners. But 
there is a sense, too, in which ministers convert them. And 
you have something to do; something that requires wisdom; 
something which; if you do it wisely, will* insure the conversion 
of sinners in proportion to the wisdom employed. If you never 
have done this, it is high time to think about yourselves, and 
see whether you have wisdom enough to save even your own 
souls. 

Men—women—you are bound to be wise in winning souls. 
Perhaps already souls have perished; perhaps a friend, or a 
child is in hell, because you have not put forth the wisdom 
which you might, in saving them. The city is going to hell. 
Yes, the world is going to hell, and must go on, till the church 
finds out what to do, to win souls. Politicians are wise. The 
children of this world are wise, they know what to do to accom¬ 
plish their ends, while we are prosing about, not knowing what 
to do, or where to take hold of the work, and sinners are going 
to hell. 


LECTURE XII. 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 

Text. —He that winneth souls is wise.”— Proverbs xi. 30. 

One of the last remarks in my last lecture, was this, that the 
text ascribes conversion to men. Winning souls is converting 
men. This evening I design to show, 

I. That several passages of Scripture ascribe conversion to men. 

II. That this is consistent with other passages which ascribe 
conversion to God. 

III. I purpose to discuss several further particulars which are 
deemed important, in regard to the preaching of the gospel, and 
which show that great practical wisdom is necessary to win 
souls to Christ. 

I. I am to show that the Bible ascribes conversion to men. 

There are many passages which represent the conversion of 

sinners as the work of men. In Daniel, xii. 3, it is said, “ And 
they that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firma- 
nent; and they that turn many to righteousness as stars for ever 
and ever.” Here the work is ascribed to men. So also in 1 
Cor. iv. 15. “ For though ye have ten thousand instructors in 

Christ, yet have ye not many fathers : for in Christ Jesus I have 
begotten you through the gospel.” Here the apostle explicitly 
tells the Corinthians that he made them Christians, with the 
gospel or truth which he preached. Again, in James, v. 19, 
20 , we are taught the same thing. “ Brethren, if any of you do 
err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know that he 
which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall 
save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.” I 
might quote many other passages, equally explicit. But these 
are sufficient abundantly to establish the fact, that the Bible 
does actually ascribe conversion to men. 

II. I proceed to show that this is not inconsistent with those 
passages in which conversion is ascribed to God. 

And here let me remark, that to my mind it often appears 
very strange that men should ever suppose there was an incon¬ 
sistency here, or that they should ever have overlooked the 
plain common sense of the matter. How easy it is to see, that 
there is a sense in which God converts them, and another sense 
in which men convert them. 




HOW TO PREACH TnE GOSPEL, 


181 


The Scriptures ascribe the conversion of a sinner to four dif¬ 
ferent agencies—to men, to God , to the truth, and to the sinner 
himself. The passages which ascribe it to the truth are the lar¬ 
gest class. That men should ever have overlooked this distinc¬ 
tion, and should have regarded conversion as a work performed 
exclusively by God, is surprising. Or that any difficulty should 
ever have been felt on the subject, or that people should ever 
have professed themselves unable to reconcile these several 
classes of passages. 

Why, the Bible speaks on this subject, precisely as we speak 
on common subjects. There is a man who has been very sick. 
How natural it is for him to say of his physician, “ That man 
saved my life.” Does he mean to say that the physician saved 
his life without reference to God ? Certainly not, unless he is 
an infidel. God made the physician, and he made the medicine 
too. And it never can be shown but that the agency of God is 
just as truly concerned in making the medicine take effect to 
save life, as it is in making the truth take effect to save 
a soul. To affirm the contrary is downright atheism. It 
is true then, that the physician saved him, and it is also true 
that God saved him. It is equally true that the medicine saved 
his life, and that he saved his own life by taking the medicine; 
for the medicine would have done no good if he had not volun¬ 
tarily taken it, or yielded his body to its power. 

In the conversion of a sinner, it is true that God gives the 
truth efficiency to turn the sinner to God. He is an active, vo¬ 
luntary, powerful agent in changing the mind. But he is not 
the only agent. The one who brings the truth to his notice is 
also an agent. We are apt to speak of ministers and other 
men as only instruments in converting sinners. This is not 
exactly correct. Man is something more than an instrument. 
Truth is the mere unconscious instrument. But man is more, 
he is a voluntary, responsible agent in the business. In my 
printed sermon, No. 1. which some of you may have seen, I have 
illustrated this idea by the case of an individual standing on the 
hanks of Niagara. 

“Suppose yourself to be standing-on the banks of the Falls 
of Niagara. As you stand upon the verge of the precipice, 
you behold a man lost in deep reverie, approaching its verge 
unconscious of his danger. He approaches nearer and nearer, 
until he actually lifts his foot to take the final step that shall 
plunge him in destruction. At this moment you lift your warn¬ 
ing vof.ee above the roar of the foaming waters, and cry out, 
Stop. The voice pierces his ear, and breaks the charm that 


182 


HOW TO PREACH THE OOSPEL. 


binds him; he turns instantly upon his heel, all pale and aghast 
he retires, quivering, from the verge of death. He reels and 
almost swoons with horror; turns and walks slowly to the pub¬ 
lic house; you follow him; the manifest agitation in his coun¬ 
tenance calls numbers around him; and on your approach, he 
points to you, and says, That man saved my life. Here he as¬ 
cribes the work to you; and certainly there is a sense in which 
you had saved him. But, on being further questioned, he says, 
Stop ! how that word rings in my ears. Oh, that was to me the 
word of life! Here he ascribes it to the word that aroused him, 
and caused him to turn. But, on conversing still further, he says, 
Had I not turned at that instant, I should have been a dead man. 
Here he speaks of it, and truly, as his own act; but directly you 
hear him say, O the mercy of God! if God had not interposed, 
I should have been lost. Now the only defect in this illustra¬ 
tion is this: In the case supposed, the only interference on 
the part of God, was a providential one; and the only sense in 
which the saving of the man’s life is ascribed to him, is in a pro¬ 
vidential sense. But in the conversion of a sinner, there is some¬ 
thing more than the providence of God employed; for here 
not only does the providence of God so order it, that the 
preacher cries, Stop, but the Spirit of God urges the truth 
home upon him with such tremendous power as to induce him 
to turn.” 

Not only does the preacher cry, Slop, but through the living 
voice of the preacher, the Spirit cries, Stop. The preacher cries, 
“ Turn ye, why will ye die.” The Spirit pours the expostula¬ 
tion home with such power, that the sinner turns. Now in 
speaking of this change, it is perfectly proper to say, that the 
Spirit turned him, just as you would say of a man, who had 
persuaded another to change his mind on the subject of politics, 
that he had converted him, and brought him over. It is also 
proper to say that the truth converted him; as in a case when 
the political sentiments of a man were changed by a certain argu¬ 
ment, we should say that argument brought him over. So also 
with perfect propriety may we abscribe the change to the living 
preacher, or to him who had presented the motives; just as we 
should say of a lawyer who had prevailed in his argument with 
a jury; he has got his case, he has converted the jury. It is 
also with the same propriety ascribed to the individual himself 
whose heart is changed; we should say that he had changed his 
mind, he has come over, he has repented. Now it is strictly 
true, and true in the most absolute and highest sense: the act is 
his own act, the turning is his own turning, while God by the 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 183 

truth has induced him to turn ; still it is strictly true that lie has 
turned and has done it himself. Thus you see the sense in which 
it is the work of God, and also the sense in which it is the sin¬ 
ner’s own work. The Spirit of God, by the truth, influences 
the sinner to change, and in this sense is the efficient cause of 
the change. But the sinner actually changes, and is therefore 
himself, in the most proper sense, the author of the. charge. 
There are some who, on reading their Bibles, fasten heir eyes 
upon those passages that ascribe the work to the Spirit of God ; 
and seem to overlook those that ascribe it to man. ana speak of 
it as the sinner’s own act. When they have quoted Scripture 
to prove it is the work of God, they seem to think they have 
proved that it is that in which man is passive, and that it can in 
no sense be the work of man. Some months since a tract was 
written, the title of which was, “ Regeneration, the effect of Divine 
Power.” The writer goes on to prove that the work is wrought 
by the Spirit of God, and there stops. Now it had been just as 
true, just as philosophical, and just as scriptural, if he had said, 
that conversion was the work of man. It was easy to prove that 
it was the work of God, in the Sense in which I have explained 
it. The writer, therefore, tells the truth, so far as he goes; but 
he has told only half the truth. For while there is a sense in 
which it is the work of God, as he has shown, there is also a 
sense in which it is the work of man, as we have just seen. 
The very title to this tract is a stumbling block. It tells the 
truth, but it does not tell the whole truth. And a tract might 
be written upon this proposition, that “ Conversion or regenera¬ 
tion is the work of man which would be just as true, just as 
scriptural, and just as philosophical, as the one to which I have 
alluded. Thus the writer, in his zeal to recognise and honor 
God as concerned in this work, by leaving out the fact that a 
change of heart is the sinner’s own act , has left the sinner 
strongly intrenched, with his weapons in his rebellious hands, 
stoutly resisting the claims of his Maker, and waiting passively 
for God to make him a new heart. Thus you see the con¬ 
sistency between the requirement of the text, and the declared 
fact that God is the author of the new heart. God commands 
you to do it, expects you to do it, and if it ever js done, you must 
do it.” • - 

And let me tell you, sinner, if you do not do it you will go to 
hell, and to all eternity you will feel that you deserved to be 
sent there for not having done it. 

III. As proposed, I shall now advert to several important 
particulars growing out of this sul ject, as connected with preach- 


184 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


ing the gospel, and which show that great practical wisdom is 
indispensable to win souls to Christ. 

And first, in regard to the matter of preaching. 

1 . All preaching should be practical. 

The proper end of all doctrine is practice. Any thing brought 
forward as doctrine, which cannot be made use of as practical, is 
not preaching the gospel. There is none of that sort of preach¬ 
ing in the Bible. That is all practical. “ All Scripture is given 
by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of 
God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” 
A vast deal of preaching in the present day, as well as in past 
ages, is called doctrinal , ns opposed to practical preaching. 
The very idea of making this distinction is a device of the devil. 
And a more abominable device Satan himself never devised. 
You sometimes hear certain men tell a wonderful deal about the 
necessity of “ indoctrinating the people.” By which they mean 
something different from practical preaching; teaching them 
certain doctrines, as abstract truths, without any particular refer¬ 
ence to practice. And I have known a minister in the midst of 
a revival, while surrounded with anxious sinners, leave off 
laboring to convert souls, for the purpose of “indoctrinating” 
the young converts, for fear somebody else should indoctrinate 
them before him. And there the revival stops! Either his doc¬ 
trine was not true, or it was not preached in the right way. To 
preach doctrines in an abstract way, and not in reference to prac¬ 
tice, is absurd. God always brings in doctrine to regulate prac¬ 
tice. To bring forward doctrinal views for any other object is 
not only nonsense, but it is wicked. 

Some people are opposed to doctrinal preaching. If they 
have been used to hear doctrines preached in a cold, abstract 
way, no wonder they are opposed to it. They ought to be op¬ 
posed to such preaching. But what can a man preach, who 
preaches no doctrine? If he preaches no doctrine, he preaches 
no gospel. And if he does not preach it in a practical way, he 
does not preach the gospel. All preaching should be doctrinal, 
and all preaching should be practical. The very design of doc¬ 
trine is to regulate practice. Any preaching that has not this 
tendency is not the gospel. A loose, exhortatory style of preach¬ 
ing, may affect the passions, and may produce excitement, but 
will never sufficiently instruct the people to secure sound con¬ 
versions. On the other hand, preaching doctrine in an abstract 
manner, may fill the head with notions , but will never sanctify 
the heart or life. 




BOW TO PREACH TIIE GOSPEL. 


185 


2 . Preaching should he direct. The gospel should be preach¬ 
ed to men, and not about them. The minister must address his 
hearers. He must preach to them about themselves, and not leave 
the impression that he is preaching to them about others. He 
will never do them any good, farther than he succeeds in con¬ 
vincing each individual that he means him. Many preachers 
seem very much afraid of making the impression that they mean 
any body in particular. They are preaching against certain 
sins, not that have any thing to do with the sinner. It is the 
sin, and not’the sinner, that they are rebuking; and they wpald 
by no means speak as if they supposed any of their hearers 
\yere guilty of these abominable practices. Now this is any 
thing but preaching the gospel. Thus did not the prophets, nor 
Christ, nor the apostles! Nor do those ministers do this, who 
are successful in winning souls to Christ. 

3. Another very important thing to be regarded in preaching, 
is, that the minister should hunt after sinners and Christians, 
wherever they may have intrenched themselves in inaction. It 
is not the design of preaching, to make men easy and quiet, but 
to make them ACT. It is not the design of calling in a physi¬ 
cian to have him give opiates, and so cover up the disease and 
let it run on till it works death; but to search out the disease 
wherever it may be hidden, and to remove it. So if a professor 
of religion has backslidden, and is full of doubts and fears; it is 
not the minister’s duty to quiet him in his sins, and comfort him, 
but to hunt him out of his errors and backslidings, and show 
him just where he stands, and what it is that makes him full of 
doubts and fears. 

A minister ought to know the religious opinions of every, sin - 
tier in his congregation. Indeed, a minister in the country is 
inexcusable if he does not. He has no excuse for not knowing 
the religious views-of all his congregation, and of all that may 
come under his influence. How otherwise can he preach to 
them? How pan he know how to bring forth things new and 
old, and adapt truth to their case? How can he hunt them put 
unless he knows where they hide themselves? He may ring 
changes on a few fundamental doctrines, Repentance and Faith, 
and Faith and Repentance, till the day of judgment, and never 
make any impression on many minds. Every sinner has some 
hiding place, some intrenchment where he lingers. He is in 
possession of some, darling LIE, with which he is quieting him¬ 
self. Let the minister find it out and get it away, either in the 
pulpit or in private, or the man will go to hell in his sins, and 
his blood will be found in the minister’s skirts, 

16 * 


186 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


4. Another important thing to observe, is that a minister 
should dwell most on those particular points which are most 
needed. I will explain what I mean. 

Sometimes he may find a people who have been led to place 
great reliance on their own resolutions. They think they can 
consult their own convenience, and by and by they will repent, 
when they get ready, without any concern about the Spirit of 
God. Let him take up these notions, and show that they are 
entirely contrary to the Scriptures. Let him show that if the 
Spirit of God is grieved away, however able he may be, it is 
certain he never will repent, and that by and by, when it shall 
be convenient for him to do it, he will have no inclination. The 
minister who finds these errors prevailing, should expose them. 
He should hunt them' out, and understand just how they are 
held, and then preach the class of truths which will show the 
fallacy, the folly, and the danger of these notions. 

So on the other hand. He may find a people who have got 
such views of Election and Sovereignty, as to think they have 
nothing to do but to wait for the moving of the waters. Let him 
go right over against them, and crowd upon them their ability 
to obey God, and show their obligation and duty, and press 
them with that until he brings them to submit and be saved. 
They have got behind a perverted view of these doctrines, and 
there is no way to drive them out of the hiding place but to set 
them right on these points. Wherever a sinner is intrenched, 
unless you pour light upon him there , you will never move him. 
It is of no use to press him with those truths which he admits, 
however plainly they may in fact contradict his wrong notions. 
He supposes them to be perfectly consistent, and does not see the 
inconsistency, and therefore it will not move him, or bring him 
to repentance. 

I have been informed of a minister in New England, who 
was settled in a congregation which had long enjoyed little else 
than Arminian preaching, and the congregation themselves 
were chiefly Arminians. Well, this minister, in his preaching, 
strongly insisted on the opposite points, the doctrine of election, 
Divine sovereignty, predestination, &c. The consequence was, 
as might have been expected where this was done with ability; 
there was a powerful revival. Some time afterwards this same 
minister was called to labor in another field, in this state, where 
the people were all on the other side, and strongly tinctured 
with Antinomianism. They had got such perverted views of 
election, and Divine sovereignty, that they were continually say¬ 
ing they had no power to do any thing, but must wait God’s 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


187 


time. Now, what does this minister do, hut immediately go to 
preaching the doctrine of election. And when he was asked, 
how he could think of preaching the doctrine of election so much 
to that people, when it was the very thing that lulled them to a 
deeper slumber, he replied, “ Why, that’s the very class of 
truths by which I had such a great revival in-not con¬ 

sidering the difference in the views of the people. And if I am 
correctly informed, there he is to this day, preaching away at 
the doctrine of election, and wondering that it does not produce 
as powerful a revival as it did in the other place. Probably 
those sinners never will be converted. You must take things 
as they are, find out where sinners lie, and pour in truth upon 
them there, and START THEM OUT from their refuges of 
lies. It is of vast importance that a minister should find out 
where the congregation are, and preach accordingly. 

I have been in many places in times of revival, and I have 
never been able to employ precisely the same course of preach¬ 
ing in one as in another. Some are intrenched behind one 
refuge, and some behind another. In one place, the church 
will need to be instructed, in another, sinners. In one place, 
one set of truths, in another, another set. A minister must 
find out where they are, and preach accordingly. I believe this 
is the experience of all preachers who are called to labor from 
field to field. 

5. If a minister means to promote a revival, he should be very 
careful not to introduce controversy. He will grieve away the 
Spirit of God. In this way probably more revivals are put 
down, than in any other. . Look back upon the history of the 
church from the beginning, and you will see that ministers are 
generally responsible for grieving away the Spirit and causing 
declensions, by controversy. It is the ministers who bring for¬ 
ward controversial subjects for discussion, and by and by they 
get very zealous on the subject, and then get the church into a 
controversial spirit, and so the Spirit of God is grieved away. 

If I had time to go over the history of the church from the 
days of the Apostles, I could show that all the controversies 
that have taken place, and all the great declensions in religion, 
too, were chargeable upon ministers. I believe the ministers 
of the present day are responsible for the present state of the 
church, and it will be seen to be true at the judgment. Who 
does not know that ministers have been crying out “ Heresy.' 1 
and “ New Measures,” and talking about the “ Evils of Revi¬ 
vals,” until they have got the church all in confusion? Look 
at the poor Presbyterian church, and see ministers getting up 



188 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


their Act and Testimony, and keeping up a continual war! 
O God, have mercy on ministers. They talk about their days 
of fasting and prayer, but are these the men to call on others 
to fast and pray ? They ought to fast and pray themselves. 
It is time that ministers should assemble together, and fast and 
pray over the evils of controversy, for they have caused it. 
The church itself never would get into a controversial spirit 
unless led into it by ministers. The body of the church are al¬ 
ways averse to controversy, and will keep out of it, only as they 
are dragged into it by ministers. When Christians are revived 
they are not inclined to meddle with controversy, either to read 
or hear it. But they may be told of such and such “ damnable 
heresies,” that are afloat, till they get their feelings enlisted in 
controversy, and then farewell to the revival. If a minister, in 
preaching, finds it necessary to discuss particular points, about 
which Christians differ in opinion, let him BY ALL MEANS 
avoid a controversial spirit and ma.nner of doing it. 

6 . The gospel should be preached in those proportions , that 
the whole gospel may be brought before the minds of the people, 
and produce its proper influence. If too much stress is laid 
on one class of truths, the Christian character will not have 
its due proportions. Its symmetry will not be. perfect. If that 
class of truths* be almost exclusively dwelt upon, that requires 
great exertion of intellect, without being brought home to the 
heart and conscience, it will be found that the church will be 
indoctrinated in those views , will have their heads filled with no¬ 
tions, but will not be awake, and active, and efficient in the pro¬ 
motion of religion. If, on the other hand, the preaching be 
loose, indefinite, exhortatory, and highly impassioned, the church 
will be like a §Hip, with too much sail for he^ ballast. It will 
be in danger of being swept aAvay by a tempest of feeling, where 
there is not sufficient knowledge to prevent their being carried 
away with every wind of doctrine. If election and sovereignty 
are too much preached, there will be Antinomianism in the 
church, and sinners will hide themselves behind the delusion 
that they can do nothing. If the other doctrines of ability and 
obligation are too prominent, they will produce Arminianism in 
the church, and sinners will be blustering and self-confident. 

When I entered the ministry, there had been so much said 
about the doctrine of election and sovereignty, that I found it 
was the universal hiding place, both of sinners and of the 
church, that they could not do any thing, or could not obey the 
gospel. And wherever I went, I found it indispensable to de¬ 
molish these refuges of lies, And a revival would in no way 


nOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


189 


be produced or carried on, but by dwelling on that class of truths, 
which hold up man’3 ability, and obligation, and responsibility. 
This was the only class of truths that would bring sinners to 
submission. 

It was not so in the days when President Edwards and 
Whitefield labored. Then the churches in New England had 
enjoyed little else than Arminian preaching, and were all rest¬ 
ing in themselves and their own strength. These bold and 
devoted servants of God came out and declared those particu¬ 
lar doctrines of grace, Divine sovereignty, and election, and they 
were greatly blessed. They did not dwell on these doctrines 
exclusively, but they preached them very fully. The conse¬ 
quence was, that because in those circumstances revivals fol¬ 
lowed from such preaching, the ministers who followed, con¬ 
tinued to preach these doctrines almost exclusively. And they 
dwelt on them so long, that the church and the world got in¬ 
trenched behind them, waiting for God to come and do what he 
required them to do, and so revivals ceased for many years. 

Now, and for years past, ministers have been engaged in 
hunting them out from these refuges. And here it is all im¬ 
portant for the ministers of this day to bear in mind, that if they 
dwell exclusively on ability and obligation, they will get their 
hearers back on the old Arminian ground, and then they will 
cease to promote revivals. Here are a body of ministers who 
have preached a great deal of truth, and have had great revi¬ 
vals, under God. Now let it be known and remarked, that the 
reason is, they have hunted sinners out from their hiding pla¬ 
ces. But if they continue to dwell on the same class of truths 
till sinners hide themselves behind their preaching, another 
class of truths must be preached. And then if they do not 
change their mode, another pall will hang over the church, 
until another class of ministers shall arise and hunt sinners out 
of those new retreats. 

A right view of both classes of truths, election and free-agen- 
cy, will do no hurt. They are eminently calculated to convert 
sinners and strengthen saints. It is a perverted view which 
chills the heart of the church, and closes the eyes of sinners in 
sleep, till they sink down to hell. If I had time I would remark 
oh the manner in which I have sometimes heard the doctrines 
of Divine sovereignty, election, and ability preached. They have 
been exhibited in irreconcileable contradiction, the one against 
the other. Such exhibitions are any thing but the gospel, and 
are calculated to make a sinner feel any thing else rather than 
his responsibility to God. 


190 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


By preaching truth in proper proportions, I do not mean 
mingling all things together in the same sermon, in such a way 
that sinners will not see their connection or consistency. A 
minister once asked another, Why do you not preach the doc¬ 
trine of election? Because, said the other, I find sinners here 
are intrenched behind inability. The first then said he once 
knew a minister who used to preach election in the forenoon, 
and repentance in the afternoon. Marvellous grace it must be, 
that would produce a revival under such preaching! What 
connection is there in this? Instead of exhibiting to the -sinner 
his sins in the morning, and then and in the afternoon calling on 
him to repent, he is first turned to the doctrine of election, and then 
commanded to repent. What is he to repent of? The doctrine 
of election? This is not what I mean by preaching truth in its 
proportion. Bringing things together, that only confound the 
sinner’s mind, and overwhelm him with a fog of metaphysics, 
is not wise preaching. When talking of election, the preacher 
is not talking of the sinner’s duty. It has no relation to the 
sinner’s duty. Election belongs to the government of God. It 
is a part of the exceeding richness of the grace of God. It shows 
the love of God, not the duty of the sinner. And to bring elec¬ 
tion and repentance together in this way is diverting the sinner’s 
mind away from his duty. It has been customary, in many 
places, for a long time, to bring the doctrine of election into 
every sermon. Sinners have been commanded to repent, and 
told that they could not repent, in the same sermon. A great 
deal of ingenuity has been exercised in endeavoring to reconcile 
a sinner’s “inability” with his obligation to obey God. Elec¬ 
tion, predestination, free-agency, inability, and duty, have all 
been thrown together in one promiscuous jumble. And with 
regard to many sermons, it has been too true, as has been object¬ 
ed, that ministers have preached, “ You can and you can’t, you 
shall and you shan’t, you will and you won’t, and you’ll be 
damned if you don’t.” Such a mixture of truth and error, of 
light and darkness, has confounded the congregation, been the 
fruitful source of Universalism, and every species of infidelity 
and error. 

7. It is of great importance that the sinner should be made to 
feel his guilt , and not left to the impression that he is unfortu¬ 
nate. I think this is a very prevailing fault, particularly with 
printed books on the subject. They are calculated to make the 
sinner think more of his sorrows than of his sins, and feel that 
his state is rather unfortunate than criminal. Perhaps most of 
you have seen a very lovely little book recently published, en- 


HOW TO PREACH THE OOSPEI* 


191 


titled “ Todd’s Lectures to Children.” It is very fine, exqui¬ 
sitely fine, and happy in some of its illustrations of truth. But 
it has one very serious fault. Many of its illustrations, I may 
say most of them, are not calculated to make a correct impres¬ 
sion respecting the guilt of sinners, or to make them feel how 
much they have been to blame. This is very unfortunate. If 
the writer had guarded his illustrations on this point, so as to make 
them impress sinners with a sense of their guilt , I do not see 
how a child could read through that hook and not be converted. 

Multitudes’of the books written for children, and for adults 
too, within the last twenty years, have run into this mistake to 
an alarming degree. Mrs. Sherwood’s writings have this fault 
standing out upon almost every page. They are not calculated 
to make the sinner blame and condemn himself. Until you can 
do this, the gospel will never take effect. 

8. A prime object with the preacher must be to make present 
obligation felt. I have talked, I suppose, with many thousands of 
anxious sinners. And I have found that they had never before 
felt the pressure of present obligation. The impression is not 
commonly made by ministers in their preaching that sinners are 
expected to repent NOW. And if ministers suppose they make 
this impression, they deceive themselves. Most commonly any 
other impression is made upon the minds of sinners by the 
preacher, than that they are expected now to submit. But what 
sort of a gospel is this? Does God authorize such an impres¬ 
sion ? Is this according to the preaching of Jesus Christ? Does 
the Holy Spirit, when striving with the sinner, make the im¬ 
pression upon his mind that he is not expected to obey now?— 
Was any such impression produced by the preaching of the 
apostles 1 ? How does it happen that so many ministers now 
preach, so as in fact to make an impression on their hearers, 
that they are not expected to repent now ? Until the sinner’s 
conscience is reached on this subject, you preach to him in vain. 
And until ministers learn how to preach so as to mdke the right 
impression, the world never can be converted O, to what an 
alarming extent does the impression now prevail among the im¬ 
penitent, that they are not expected! to repent now , but must wait 
God’s time! 

9. Sinners ought to be made to feel that they have something 
to do, and that is to repent; that it is something which no other 
being can do for them, neither God nor man, and something 
which they can do, and do now. Religion is something to do, 
not something to wait for. And they must do it now, or they 
are in danger of eternal death. 


192 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


10. Ministers should never rest satisfied, until they have 
ANNIHILATED every excuse of sinners. The plea of 
“inability” is the worst of all excuses. It slanders God so, 
charging him with infinite tyranny, in commanding men to do 
that which they have no power to do. Make the sinner see 
and feel that this is the very nature of his excuse. Make the 
sinner see that all pleas in excuse for not submitting to God, 
are an act of rebellion against him. Tear away the last LIE 
which he grasps in his hand, and make him feel that he is 
absolutely condemned before God. 

11. Sinners should be made to feel that if they now grieve 
away the Spirit of God, it is very probable that they will be lost 
for ever. There is infinite danger of this. They should be 
made to understand why they are dependent on the Spirit, and 
that it is not because they cannot do what God commands, but 
because ther are unwilling; but that they are so unwilling 
that it is just as certain they will not repent without the Holy 
Ghost, as if they were now in hell, or as if they were actually 
unable. They are so opposed and so unwilling, that they never 
will repent in the world, unless God sends his Holy Spirit upon 
them. 

Show them, too, that a sinner under the gospel, who hears 
the truth preached, if converted at all, is generally converted 
young. And if not converted while young, he is commonly 
given up of God. Where the truth is preached, sinners are 
either gospel-hardened or converted. I know some old sinners 
are converted, but they are rather exceptions, and by no means 
common. 

I wish now, secondly, to make a few remarks on the man¬ 
ner OF PREACHING, 

1 . It should be conversational. Preaching, to be understood, 
should be cplloquial in its style. A minister must preach just 
as he would* talk, if he wishes to be fully understood. Nothing 
is more calculated to make a sinner feel that religion is some 
mysterious thing that he cannot understand, than this mouthing, 
formal, lofty style of speaking, so generally employed in the 
pulpit. The minister ought to do as the law r yer does when he 
wants to make a jury understand him perfectly. He uses a 
style perfectly colloquial. This lofty, swelling style will do no 
good. The gospel will never produce any great effects, until 
ministers talk to their hearers, in the pulpit, as they talk in 
private conversation. 

2 . It must be in the language of common life. Not only 
should it be colloquial in its style, but the words should be such 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


193 


as are in common use. Otherwise they will not be understood. 
In the New I estament you will observe that Jesus Christ in¬ 
variably uses words of the most common kind. You scarcely 
find a word ot his instructions, that any child cannot under¬ 
stand. The language of the gospels is the plainest, simplest, 
and most easily understood of any language in the world. 

f or a minister to neglect this principle, is wicked. Some 
ministers use language that is purely technical in preaching. 
They think to avoid the mischief by explaining the meaning 
fully at the outset; but this will not answer. It will not effect 
the object in making the people understand what he means. 
If he uses a word that is not in common use, and that people 
do not understand, his explanation may be very full, but the 
difficulty is that people will forget his explanations, and then 
his woids are all Oreek to them. Or if he uses a word in 
common use, hut employs it in an 2 /ftcommon sense, giving- his 
special explanations, it is no better; for the people will soon 
forget his special explanations, and then the impression actually 
conveyed to their minds will be according to their common un¬ 
derstanding of the word. And thus he will never convey the 
right idea to his congregation. It is amazing how many men 
of thinking minds there are in congregations, who do not under¬ 
stand the most common technical expressions employed by 
ministers, such as regeneration, sanctification, &c. 

Use words that can be perfectly understood. Do not, for fear 
of appearing unlearned, use language half Latin and half Greek, 
which the people do not-understand. The apostle says the man 
is a barbarian, who uses language that the people do not un¬ 
derstand. And “ if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who 
shall prepare himself for the battle?” In the apostle’s days 
there were some preachers, who were marvellously proud of 
displaying their command of language, and showing off the va¬ 
riety of tongues they could speak, which the common people 
could not understand. The apostle rebukes this spirit sharply, 
and says, “ I had rather speak five words with my understand¬ 
ing, that by my voice 1 might teach others also, than ten thou¬ 
sand words in an unknown tongue.” 

I have sometimes heard ministers preach, even when there 
was a revival, when I have wondered what that part of the con ¬ 
gregation would do, who had no dictionary. So many phrases 
were brought in, manifestly to adorn the discourse, rather than 
to instruct the people, that I have felt as if I wanted to tell the 
man, “ Sit down, and not confound the people’s minds with your 
barbarian preaching, that they cannot understand,” 

17 


194 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL, 


3. Preaching should be parabolical. That is, illustrations 
should be constantly i sed, drawn from incidents, real or sup¬ 
posed. Jesus Christ constantly illustrated his instructions in 
this way. He would either advance a principle and then illus¬ 
trate it by a parable, that is, a short story of* some event real or 
imaginary, or else he would bring out the principle in the pa¬ 
rable. There are millions of facts that can be used to advantage, 
and yet very few ministers dare to use them, for fear somebody 
will reproach them. “ Oh,” says somebody, “ he tells stories.” 
Tells stories! Why, that is the way Jesus Christ preached. 
And it is the only way to preach. Facts, real or supposed, 
should be used to show the truth. Truths not illustrated, are 
generally just as well calculated to convert sinners as a mathe¬ 
matical demonstration. Is it always to be so 1 Shall it always 
be matter of reproach, that ministers follow the example of Jesus 
Christ, in illustrating truths by facts ? Let them do it, and let 
fools reproach them as story-telling ministers. They have 
Jesus Christ and common sense on their side. 

4. The illustrations should be drawn from common life, and 
the common business of society. I once heard a minister illus¬ 
trate his ideas by the manner in which merchants transact 
business in their stores. Another minister who was present 
made some remarks to him afterwards. He objected to this 
illustration particularly, because, he said, it was too familiar, and 
was letting down the dignity of the pulpit. He said all illus¬ 
trations in preaching should be drawn from ancient history, or 
from some elevated source, that would keep up the dignity of 
the pulpit. Dignity indeed! Just the language of the devil. 
He rejoices in it. Why, the object of an illustration is, to make 
people see the truth , not to bolster up pulpit dignity. A minister 
whose heart is in the work, does not use an illustration to make 
people stare, but to make them see the truth. If he brought 
forward his illustrations from ancient history, it could not make 
the people see, it would not illustrate any thing. The novelty 
of the thing might awaken their attention, but then they would 
lose the truth itself. For if the illustration itself be a novelty, 
the attention will be directed to this fhct as a matter of history, 
and the truth itself, which it was designed to illustrate, will be 
lost sight of. The illustration should, if possible, be a matter of 
common occurrence, and the more common the occurrence the 
more sure it will be, not to fix attention upon itself, but it serves 
as a medium through which the.truth is conveyed. I have been 
pained at the very heart, at hearing illustrations drawn from an¬ 
cient history, of which not one in a hundred of the congrega- 


HOW TO PREACH TIIE GOSPEL. 


195 


tion had ever heard. The very manner in which they were ad¬ 
verted to, was strongly tinctured, to say the least, with the ap¬ 
pearance of vanity, and an attempt to surprise the people with 
an exhibition of learning. 

The Savior always illustrated his instructions by things 
that were taking place among the people to whom he preached, 
and with which their minds were familiar. He descended of¬ 
ten very far below what is now supposed to be essential to sup¬ 
port the dignity of the pulpit. He talked about the hens and 
chickens, and children in market-places, and sheep and lambs, 
shepherds and farmers, and husbandmen and merchants. And 
when he talked about kings, as in the marriage of the king’s son, 
and the nobleman that went into a far country to receive a 
kingdom, he had reference to historical facts, that were well 
known among the people at the time. The illustration should 
always be drawn from things so common, that the illustration 
itself will not attract attention away from the subject, but that 
people may see through it the truth illustrated. 

5. Preaching should be repetitious. If a minister wishes to 
preach with effect, he must not be afraid of repeating whatever 
he sees is not perfectly understood by his hearers. Here is the 
evil of using notes. The preacher preaches right along just 
as he has it written down, and cannot observe whether he is 
understood or not. If he interrupts his reading, and attempts 
to catch the countenances'of the audience, and to explain where 
he sees they do not understand, he gets lost and confused, and 
gives it up. If a minister has his. eyes on the people he is 
preaching to, he can commonly tell by their looks whether they 
understand him. And if he. sees they do not understand any 
particular point, let him stop and illustrate it. If they do not 
understand one illustration, let him give another, and make it 
all clear to their minds, before he goes on. But those who 
write their sermons go right on, in a regular consecutive train, 
just as in any essay or a book, and do not repeat their thoughts 
till the audience fully comprehend them. 

I was conversing with one of the first advocates in this 
country. He said the difficulty which preachers find in mak¬ 
ing themselves understood; is, that they do not repeat enough, 
Says he, “ In addressing a jury, I always expect that whatever 
I wish to impress upon their minds, I shall have to repeat at 
least twice, and often I repeat it three or four times, and even 
more. Otherwise, I do not carry their minds along with me, 
so that they can feel the force of what comes afterwards.” If a 
jury under oath, called to decide on the common affairs of this 


196 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


world, cannot apprehend an argument, unless there is so much 
repetition, how is it to be expected that men will understand the 
preaching of the gospel without it ? 

In like manner the minister ought to turn an important 
thought over and over before his audience, till even the children 
understand it perfectly. Do not say that so much repetition will 
create disgust in cultivated minds. It will not disgust. This 
is not what disgusts thinking men. They are not weary of the 
efforts a minister makes to be understood. The fact is, the 
more simple a preacher’s illustrations are, and the more plain 
he makes every thing, the more men of mind are interested. I 
know that men of the first minds, often get ideas they never had 
before, from illustrations which were designed to bring the gos¬ 
pel down to the comprehension of a child. Such men are com 
monly so occupied with the affairs of this world, that they do 
not think much on the subject of religion, and they therefore 
need the plainest preaching, and they will like it. 

6. A minister should always feel deeply his subject, and 
then he will suit the action to the word and the word to the 
action, so as to make the full impression which the truth is cal¬ 
culated to make. He should be in solemn earnest in what he 
says. I heard lately a most judicious criticism on this subject. 
“ How important it is that a minister should feel what he says. 
Then his actions will of course correspond to his words. If ho 
undertakes to make gestures, his arms may go like a windmill, 
and yet make no impression.” It requires the utmost stretch 
of art on the stage for the actors to make their hearers feel. The 
design of elocution is to teach this skill. But if a man feds 
his subject fully, he will naturally do it. He will naturally do 
the very thing that elocution laboriously teaches. See any 
common man in the streets, who is earnest in talking. See with 
what force he gestures. See a woman or a child, in earnest. 
How natural. To gesture with their hands is as natural as it 
is to move their tongue and lips. It is the perfection of elo¬ 
quence. 

Let a minister, then, only feel what he says, and not be tied 
to his notes, to read an essay, or to speak a piece, like a school-boy, 
first on one foot and then on the other, put out first one hand 
and then the^ther. Let him speak as he feels, and act as he 
feels, and he will be eloquent. 

No wonder that a great deal of preaching produces so little ef¬ 
fect. Gestures are of more importance than is generally supposed. 
Mere words will never express the full meaning of the gospel. 
The manner of saying it is almost every thing Suppose one 








HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


197 


of you, that is a mother, goes home to-night, and as soon as you 
get into the door, the nurse comes rushing up to you, with her 
whole soul jp her countenance, and tells you that your child is 
burnt to death. You wouhl'believe it, and you would feel it too, 
at once. But. suppose she comes and tells it in a cold and care¬ 
less manner. Would that arouse ybu 1 No. It is the earnest¬ 
ness of her manner, and the distress of her looks, that tells the 
story. You know something is the matter, before she speaks a 
word. 

I once heard a remark made, respecting a young minister’s 
preaching, which was instructive. He was uneducated, in the 
common sense of the term, but well educated to win souls. It 
was said of him, “ The manner in which he comes in,.and sits 
in the pulpit, and rises to speak, is a sermon of itself. It shows 
that he has something to say that is important and solemn.” 
That man’s manner of saying some things I have known to 
move the feelings of a whole congregation, when the same things 
said in a prosing way would have produced no effect at all. 

A fact which Was stated by one of the most distinguished pro¬ 
fessors of elocution in the United States, ought to impress 
ministers on this subject. That man was an infidel. Fie said, 
“ I have been fourteen years employed in teaching elocution to 
ministers, and I know they don’t believe the Christian religion. 
The Bible may be true. r I don’t pretend to know as to that, but 
I do know these ministers don’t believe it. I can demonstrate 
that they do not. The perfection of my art is to teach them to 
speak naturally on this subject. I go to their studies, and con¬ 
verse with them, and they-, speak eloquently. I say to them, 
Gentlemen, if you will preach just as you yourselves naturally 
speak on any other subject, in which you are interested, you do 
not need to be taught. That is just what I am trying to teach 
you. I hear you talk on other subjects, with admirable force 
and eloquence. I see you go into the pulpit, and you speak 
and act as if you did not beliOve what you are saying. I have 
told them, again and again, to talk in the pulpit as tiey natu¬ 
rally talk to me. And I cannot make them do it, an<i so I know 
they do not believe the Christian religion.” . 

I have mentioned this to show herw universal it is, that men 
will gesture right, if they feel right. The enly thing in the 
way of ministers being natural speakers is, that they do not 
DEEPLY FEEL. How can they be natural in elocution, 
when they do not feel ? 

7. A minister should aim to convert his congregation. But 
you will ask, Does not all preaching aim at this? No. A min- 

17 * 


> 


198 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


ister always has some aim in preaching, but most sermons were 
never aimed at converting sinners. And if sinners were con¬ 
verted under them, the preacher himself would be amazed. I 
once heard a fact on this point. There were two young minis¬ 
ters who had entered the ministry at the same time. One of 
hem had great success in converting sinners, the other none. 
The latter inquired of the ether, one day, what was the reason ^ 
of this difference. “Why,” replied the other, “the reason is, 
that I aim-at a different end from you, in preaching. My object 
is to convert sinners, but you aim at no such thing. And then 
you go and lay it to sovereignty in God, that you do not produce 
the same effect, when you never aim at it. Here, take one of 
my Sermons, and preach it to your people, and see, what the 
effect will be.” The man did so, and preached the sermon, and 
it did produce effect. He was frightened when sinners began 
to weep; and w r hen one came to him after meeting to ask what 
he should do, the minister apologized to him, and said, “ I did 
not aim to wound you, I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings.” 
O horrible! 


8. A minister must anticipate the objections of sinners, and 
answer them. What does the lawyer do when pleading before 
a jury? O how differently is the cause of Jesus Christ pleaded 
from human causes ! It was remarked by a lawyer, that the 
cause of Jesus Christ had the fewest able advocates of any cause 
in the world. And I partly believe it. Does a lawyer go along 
in his argument in a regular- train, and not explain any thing 
obscure, or anticipate the arguments of his antagonist ? If he 
did so, he would lose his case, to a certainty. But no. The 
lawyer, who is pleading for money, anticipates every objection, 
which may be made by his antagonist, and carefully removes 
or explains them, so as to leave the ground all clear as he goes 
along, that the jury may be settled on every point. But minis¬ 
ters often leave one difficulty and another, untouched. Sinners 
who hear them feel the difficulty, and it is never got over in 
their minds, and they never know how to remove it, and per¬ 
haps the minister never takes the trouble to know that such dif¬ 
ficulties exist, and yet he wonders why his congregation is not 
converted, and why there is.no revival, How can he wonder 
at it, when he has never hunted up the difficulties and objections 
that sinners feel, and removed them ? 

9. If a minister means to preach the gospel with effect he 
must be sure not to be monotonous. If he preaches in a mono¬ 
tonous way, he will preach the people to sleep. Any monotonous 
sound, great or small, if continued, disposes people to sleep. 


I 




HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


199 


The falls of Niagara, the roaring of the ocean, ot any sound 
ever so great or small, has this effect naturally on the nervous 
system. You never hear this monotonous manner from people 
in conversation. And. a minister cannot be monotonous in 
preaching, if he feels what he says. 

10. A minister should address the feelings enough to secure 
attention, and then deal with the conscience , and probe’ to the 
quick. Appeals to the feelings alone will never convert sin¬ 
ners. If the preacher deals too much in these, he may get up 
an excitement, and have wave after wave of feeling flow over 
the congregation, and people may be carried away in the flood, 
with false hopes. The only way to secure, sound conversions 
is to deal faithfully with the conscience, f If attention flags at 
any time, appeal to the feelings again, and rouse it up; but do 
your work with conscience. 

11. If he can, it is desirable that a minister should learn the 
effect of one sermon, before he preaches another. Let him learn 
if it is understood, if it has produced any impression, if any dif¬ 
ficulties are felt in regard to the subject which need clearing up, 
if any objections are raised, and the like. When he knows it 
all, then he knows what to preach next. What would be thought 
of the physician who should give medicine to his patient, and 
then give it again and again, without trying to learn the effect 
of the first, or whether it had produced any effect or not? A 
minister never will be ablejo deal,with sinners as he ought, till 
he wn find out whether his instruction has been received and 
understood, and whether the difficulties in sinners’ minds are 
cleared away, and their path open to the Savior, so that they 
need not stumble and stumble till their «souls are lost. 

I had designed to notice several other points, but time does 
not admit. I wish to close with a few 

REMARKS. 

1. We see why so few of the leading minds in many com¬ 
munities are converted. 

Until the late revivals, professional men were rarely reached 
oy preaching, and they were almost all infidels at heart. Peo¬ 
ple almost understood the Bible to warrant the idea, that they 
could not be converted. The reason is obvious. The gospel 
had not been commended to the consciences of such men. 
Ministers had not grappled with mind, and reasoned so as to 
make that class of minds seethe truth of the gospel, and feel 
its power, and consequently such persons had come to regard 
religion as something unvvorthy their notice. 


200 


IIOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


But of late years the case is altered, and in some places there 
have been more of this class of persons converted, in propor¬ 
tion to their numbers, than of any others. That is because 
they were made to understand the claims of the gospel. The 
preacher grappled with their minds, and showed thetn the 
reasonableness of religion. And when this is done, it is found 
that that class of minds are more easily converted than any 
other They have so much better capacity to receive an argu¬ 
ment, and are so much more in the habit of yielding to the force 
of reason, that as soon as the gospel gets a fair hold of their 
minds, it breaks them right down, and melts them at the feet 
of Christ. 

2. Before the gospel can take general effect, we must have a 
class of extempore preachers, for the following reasons : 

(1.) No set of men can stand the labor of writing sermons 
and doing all the preaching which will be requisite. 

(2.) Written preaching is not calculated to produce the requi¬ 
site effect. Such preaching does not present truth in the right 
shape. 

(3.) It is impossible for a man who writes his sermons to 
arrange his matter, and turn and choose his thoughts, so as to 
produce the same effect as when he addresses the people directly, 
and makes them feel that he means them. Writing sermons 
had its origin in times of political difficulty. The practice was 
unknown in the apostles’ days. No doubt written sermons 
have done a great deal of good, but they can never give to the 
gospel its great power. Perhaps many ministers have been 
so long trained in the use of notes, that they had better not 
throw them aw'ay. Perhaps they would make bad work with¬ 
out them. The difficulty would not be for the want of mind, 
but from -wrong training. The bad hgbit. is begun with the 
school boy, who is called to “speak his piece.” Instead of 
being set to express his own thoughts and feelings in his own 
language, and with his own natural manner, such as nature 
herself prompts, he is made to commit another person’s writing 
to memory, and then mouths it out in a stiff and formal way. 
And so when he goes to college,'and to the seminary, instead 
of being trained to extempore speaking, he is set to writing his 
piece, and commit it to memory. I would pursue the opposite 
course from the beginning. I would give him a subject, and 
let him first think , and then speak his thoughts. Perhaps he 
will make mistakes. Very well, that is to be expected—in a 
beginner. But he will learn. Suppose he is not eloquent, at 
first. Very well, he can improve. And he is in the very way 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


201 


to improve. This kind of training- alone will ever raise up a 
class of ministers who 4 can convert the world. 

But it is objected to extemporaneous preaching, that if minis¬ 
ters do not write , they will not think. This objection will have 
weight with those men whose habit has always been to write 
down their thoughts. But to a man of a different habit, it will 
have no weight at all. Writing is not thinking. And if I 
should judge from many of the written sermons I have heard 
preached, I should think the makers of them had been doing 
any thing rather than thinking. The mechanical labor oi 
writing is really a hinderance to close and rapid thought. It is 
true that> some extempore preachers have not been men ot 
thought. And so it is true that many men who write sermons, 
are not men of thought. A man whose habits have always 
been such, that be has thought only when be has put his mihd 
on the end of his pen, will of course, if he lays aside his pen, 
at first find it difficult to think; and if he attempts to preach 
without writing, will, until his habits are thoroughly changed, 
find it difficult to throw into his sermons the same amount of 
thought, as if he conformed to his old habits of writing. But it 
should be remembered that this is only on account of his having 
been trained to write, and having always habituated himself to 
it. It is the training and habit that renders it so difficult for 
him to think without writing. Will any body pretend to say 
that lawyers are not'men of thought? That their arguments 
before a court and jury, are not profound and well digested? 
And yet every one knows that they do not write their speeches. 
It should be understood}, too, that in college, they have the same 
training with ministers, and have the same disadvantage of 
having been trained to write their thoughts; and it is only after 
they enter upon their profession, that they change their habit. 
Were they educated, as they should be, to extempore habits in 
the schools, they would be vastly more eloquent and powerful 
in argument than they are. • 

I have heard much of this objection to extempore preaching 
ever since I entered the ministry. It \yap often said to me then, 
in answer to my views of extempore preaching,.that ministers 
who preached extemporaneously, would not instruct the church¬ 
es, that there would be a great deal of " sameness in their preach¬ 
ing, and they would soon become insipid and repetitious for 
want of thought. But every year’s experience has ripened the 
conviction on my mind, that the reverse of this objection is true. 
The man who writes least may, if he pleases, think most , and 
will say what he does think in a manner that will be better un- 


202 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


derstood than if it were written; and that, just in the proportion 
that he lays aside the labor of writing, his body will be left free 
to exercise, and his mind to vigorous and consecutive thought. 

The great reason why it is supposed that extempore preachers 
more frequently repeat the same thoughts in their preaching, is 
because what they say is, in a general way, more perfectly re* 
membered by the congregation, than if it had been read. I 
have often known preachers, who could repeat their written ser¬ 
mons once in a few months, without its being recognised by the 
congregation. But the manner in which extempore sermons 
are generally delivered is so much more impressive, that the 
thoughts cannot in general be soon repeated, without being re¬ 
membered. We shall never have a set of men in our halls of 
legislation, in our courts of justice, and in our pulpits, that are 
powerful and overwhelming speakers, and can Carry the world 
before them, till our system of education teaches them to think, 
closely, rapidly, consecutively, and till all their habits of speak¬ 
ing in the schools are extemporaneous. The very style of com¬ 
municating thought, in what is commonly called a good style 
of writing, is not calculated to leave a deep impression on the 
mind, or to communicate thought in a clear and impressive 
manner. It is not laconic, direct, pertinent. It is not the lan¬ 
guage of nature. It is impossible that gestures should be suited 
io the common style of writing. And consequently, when they 
attempt to gesture in reading an essay, or delivering a written 
sermon, their gestures are a burlesque upon all public speaking. 

In delivering a sermon in this essay style of writing, it is 
impossible that nearly all the fire of meaning and power of ges¬ 
ture, and looks, and attitude, and emphasis should not be lost. 
We can never have the full meaning of the gospel, till we throw 
away*our notes. 

3. A minister’s course of study and training for his work 
should be exclusively theological. 

I mean just as I s&y. 1 am not now going to discuss the 
question whether all education ought not to be theological. But 
I say education for the ministry should be exclusively so. But 
you will ask, Should not a minister understand science ? I would 
answer, Yes, the more the better. I would that ministers might 
understand all science. But it should all be in connection with 
theology. Studying science is studying the works of God. 
And studying theology is studying God. 

Let a scholar be asked, for instance, this questioft: “ Is there 
a God?” To answer it, let him ransack the universe, let him 
go out into every department of science, to find the proofs of 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


203 


design , and in this way to learn the existence of God. Let 
him next inquire how many Gods there are, and let him again 
ransack creation to see whether there is such a unity of design 
as evinces that there is one God. In like manner, let him in¬ 
quire concerning the attributes of God, and his character. He 
will learn science here, but will learn it as. a part of theology. 
Let him search every field of knowledge, to bring forward his 
proofs. What was the design, of this plan? What was the end 
of that arrangement? See whether every thing you find in the 
universe is not calculated to produce happiness, unless perverted. 

Would the student’s heart get hard and cold in study, as cold 
and hard as the college walls, if science was pursued in this 
way ? Every lesson brings him right up before God, and is in 
fact communion with God, and Avarms his heart, and makes 
him more pious, more solemn, more holy. The very distinc¬ 
tion between classical and theological study is a curse- to the 
church, and a curse to the world. The student spends four 
years in college at classical studies, and no God in them, and 
then three years in the seminary, at theological studies; and 
what then? Poor young man. Set him to work, and you will, 
find that he is not educated for the ministry at all. The church 
groans under his preaching, because he does not preach with 
unction, nor with power. He'has been spoiled in training. 

4. We learn what is revival preaching. All ministers should 
be revival ministers, and all preaching should be revival preach¬ 
ing; that is, it should be calculated to promote holiness. People 
say, “It is very well to have some men in the church, who are 
revival preachers, and who can go about and promote revivals ; 
but then you must have others to indoctrinate the church.” 
Strange! Do they not know that a revival indoctrinates the 
church faster than any thing-else? And a minister will never 
produce a revival, if he does not indoctrinate his hearers. The 
preaching I have described, is full of doctrine, but it is doctrine 
to be practised. And that is revival preaching. 

5. There are two objections sometimes brought against the 
kind of preaching which I have recommended. 

(1.) That it is letting down the dignity of the pulpit to preach 
in this colloquial, lawyer-like style. They are shocked at it. 
Put it is only on account of its novelty, and not for any impro- 
there is in the thing itself. I heard a remark made by a 



leading layman in the centre of this state* in regard to the preach¬ 
ing of a certain minister. He said it was the first preaching 
he ever heard, that he understood, and the first minister he ever 
heard that spoke as if he believed his own doctrine, or meant 


204 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


what he said. And when he first heard him preach as if he 
was saying something that he meant, he thought he was crazy. 
But eventually, he was made to see that it was all true, and he 
submitted to the truth, as the power of God for the salvation of 
his soul. 

What is the dignity of the pulpit ? To see a minister go into 
the pulpit to sustain its dignity! Alas, alas ! During 1 my for¬ 
eign tour, I heard an English missionary preach exactly in that 
way. I believe he was a good man, and out of the pulpit he 
would talk like a man that meant what he said.' But no sooner 
was he in the pulpit, than he appeared like a perfect automa¬ 
ton—swelling, mouthing, and singing, enough to put all the 
people to sleep. And the difficulty seemed to be, that he want¬ 
ed to maintain the dignity of the pulpit. 

(2.) It is objected that this preaching is theatrical. The 
bishop of London once asked Garrick, the celebrated play-actor, 
why it was that actors, in representing a mere fiction, should 
move an assembly, even to tears, while ministers, in represent¬ 
ing the most solemn realities, could scarcely obtain a hearing. 
The philosophical Garrick well replied, “ It is because we repre¬ 
sent fiction as a reality, and you represent reality as a fiction.” 
This is telling the whole story. Now what is the design of the 
actor in a theatrical representation? It is so to throw himself 
into the spirit and meaning of the writer, as to adopt his senti¬ 
ments, make them his own, feel them, embody theffi, throw 
them out upon the audience as living reality. And now, what 
is the objection to all this in preaching?. The actor suits the 
action to the word, and the word to the action. His looks, his 
hands, his attitudes, and every thing are designed to express 
the full meaning of the writer. Now this should be the .aim of 
the preacher. And if by “theatrical” be meant the strongest 
possible representation of the sentiments expressed, then the 
more theatrical a sermon is, the-better. And if ministers are 
too stiff; and the people too fastidious, to learn even from an 
actor, or from the stage, the best method of swaying mind, of 
enforcing sentiment, and diffusing the warmth of burning 
thought over a congregation, then they must go on with their 
prosing, and reading, and sanctimonious starch. But let them 
remember, that while they are thus turning away and decrying 
the art of the actor, and attempting to support “the dignity of 
the pulpit,” the theatres can be thronged every night. The 
common-sense people mill be entertained with that manner of 
speaking, and sinners will go down to hell. 

6. A congregation may learn how to choose a minister. 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


205 


When a vacant church are looking out for a minister, there 
are two leading points on which they commonly fix their atten¬ 
tion. (1.) That he should be popular. (2.) That he should 
be learned. That is very well. But this point should be the 
first in their inquiries—“ Is he ivise to win souls?” No matter 
how eloquent a minister is, or how learned. No matter how 
pleasing and popular in his manners. If it is a matter of fact 
that sinners are not converted under his preaching, it shows 
that he has not this wisdom, and your children and neighbors 
will go down to hell under his preaching. 

I am happy to know that many churches will ask this ques¬ 
tion about ministers. And if they find that a minister is desti¬ 
tute of this tital quality, they will not have him. And if minis¬ 
ters can be found who are wise to win souls, the churches will 
have such ministers. It is in vain to contend against it, or to 
pretend that they are not well educated, or not learned, or the 
like. It is in vain for the schools to try to force down the 
throats of the churches a race of ministers who are learned in 
every thing but what they most need to know. The churches 
have pronounced them not made right, and they will not sustain 
that which is notoriously so inadequate as the present system of 
theological education. 

It is very difficult to say what needs to be said on this sub¬ 
ject, without being in danger of begetting a wrong spirit in the 
church, towards ministers. Many professors of religion are 
ready to find fault with ministers when they have no reason; 
insomuch, that it becomes very difficult to say of ministers what 
is true, and what needs to be said, without its being perverted 
and abused by this class of professors. I would not for the 
world say any thing to injure the influence of a minister of 
Christ, who is really endeavoring to do good. I would that 
they deserved a hundred times more influence than they now 
deserve or have. But, to tell the truth will not injure the influ¬ 
ence of those ministers, who by their lives and preaching give 
evidence to the church, that their object is to do good, and win 
souls to Christ. This class of ministers will recognise the 
truth of all that I have said, or wish to say. They see it all, 
and deplore it. But if there be ministers who are doing no 
good, who are feeding themselves and not the flock, such min¬ 
isters deserve no influence. If they are doing no good, it is time 
for them to betake themselves to some other profession. They 
are but leeches on the very vitals of the church, sucking out its 
heart’s blood. They are useless, and worse than useless. And 


206 


HOW TO PREACH THE GOSPEL. 


the sooner they are laid aside, and their places filled with those 
who will exert themselves for Christ, the better. 

Finally —It is the duty of the church to pray for us, min¬ 
isters. Not one of us is such as we ought to be. Like Paul, 
we can say, “ Who is sufficient for these things ?” But who 
of us is like Paul ? Where will you find such a minister 
as Paul? They are not here. We have been wrongly edu¬ 
cated, all of us. Pray for the schools, and colleges, and semi¬ 
naries. And pray for young men who are preparing for the 
ministry. Pray for ministers, that God would give them this 
wisdom to win souls. And pray that God would bestow upon 
the church the wisdom and the means to educate a generation 
of ministers who will go forward and convert the world. The 
church must travail in prayer, and groan and agonize for this. 
This is now the pearl of price to the church, to have a supply 
of the right sort of ministers. The coming of the millenium 
depends on having a different sort of ministers, who are more 
thoroughly educated for their work. And this we shall have 
so sure as the promise of the Lord holds good. Such a minis¬ 
try as is now in the church will never convert the world. But 
the world is to be converted, and therefore God intends to have 
ministers who will do it. “ Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the 
harvest, that he would send forth laboiers into his harvest.” 




LECTURE XIII. 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 

Text. —And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel pre 
vailed ; and when he letdown his hand, Amalekprevailed. But Moses’s hands 
we r e heavy : and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon : 
and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other 
on the other side: and his hands were steady until the going down of the 
sun. Ana Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the 
«word.— Exodus xvii. 11—13. 

You who read your Bibles will recollect the connection in 
which these verses stand. The people of God in subduing their 
enemies came to battle against the Amalekites, and these inci¬ 
dents took place. It is difficult to conceive why importance 
should be attached to the circumstance of Moses holding up his 
hands, unless the expression is understood to denote the attitude 
of prayer And then his holding up his hands, and the success 
attending it, will teach us the importance of prayer to God, for 
his aid in all our conflicts with the enemies of God. The co¬ 
operation and support of Aaron and Hur have been generally 
understood to represent the duty of churches to sustain and as¬ 
sist ministers in their work, and the importance of this co-ope¬ 
ration to the success of the preached gospel. I shall make this 
use of it on the present occasion. As I have spoken of the duty 
of ministers to labor for revivals, I shallnow consider, 

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CO-OPERATION OF THE CHURCH IN 
PRODUCING AND CARRYING ON A REVIVAL. 

There are a number of things whose importance in promot¬ 
ing a revival has not been duly considered by churches and 
ministers, which if not attended to will make it impossible that 
revivals should extend, or even continue for any considerable 
time. In my last two lectures, I have been dwelling on the du¬ 
ties of ministers, as it was impossible for me to preach a course 
of lectures on revivals, without entering more or less extensively 
into that department of means. I have not done with that part 
of the subject, but have thought it important here to step aside 
and discuss some points, in which the church must stand by and 
aid their minister, if they expect to enjoy a revival. In dis¬ 
cussing the subject, I propose, 

I. To mention several things which Christians must avoid , 
if they would support ministers. 


208 


HCW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


II. Some things to which they must attend. 

I. I am to mention several things that must be avoided. 

1. By all means keep clear of the idea, both in theory and 
practice, that a minister is to ‘promote revivals alone. Many 
people are inclined to take a passive attitude on this subject, and 
feel as if they had nothing to do. They have employed a min¬ 
ister and paid him, to feed them with instruction and comfort, and 
now they have nothing to do but to sit and swallow the food he 
gives. They are to pay his salary, and attend on his preaching, 
and they think that is doing a great deal. And he on his part 
is expected to preach good, sound, comfortable doctrine, to bol¬ 
ster them up, and make them feel comfortable, and so they ex¬ 
pect to go to heaven. I tell you, THEY WILL GO TO 
HELL, if this is their religion. That is not the way to heaven. 

Rest assured that where this spirit prevails in the church, 
however good the minister may be, the church have taken the 
course to prevent a revival. If he is ever so faithful, ever so 
much engaged, ever so talented and eloquent, he may wear him¬ 
self out, and perhaps destroy his life, but he will have little or 
no revival. 

Where there is no church, or very few members m the 
church, a revival may be promoted without any organized effort 
of the church, because it is not there, and in such a case, God 
accommodates his grace to the circumstances, as he did when 
the apostles went out, single-handed, to plant the gospel in the 
world. \ have seen instances of powerful revivals, where such 
was the case. But where there are means, God will have them 
used. I had rather have no church in a place, than attempt to 
promote a revival in a place where there is a church which 
will not work. God will be inquired of by his people to bestow 
blessings. The counteracting influence of a church that will 
not work, is worse than infidelity. There is no possibility of 
occupying neutral ground, in regard to a revival, though some 
professors imagine they are neutral. If a professor will not 
lay himself out in the work, he opposes it. Let such a one at¬ 
tempt to take middle ground, and say he is going to wait and 
see how they come out—why, that is the very ground the devil 
wants him to take. Professors can in this way do his work a 
great deal more effectually than by open opposition. If they 
should take open ground in opposition, every body will say they 
have no religion. But by this middle course they retain their 
influence, and thus do the devil’s work more effectually. 

In employing a minister, a church must remember, that they 
have only employed a leader , to lead them on to action in the 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 209 

cause of Christ. People would think it strange if any body 
should propose to support a general, and then let him go and 
fight alone! This is no more absurd, or destructive, than for 
a minister to attempt to go forward alone. The church mis¬ 
conceive the design of the ministry, if they leave their minister 
to work alone. It is not enough that they should hear the ser¬ 
mons. That is only the word of command, which the church 
are bound to 'follow. 

2. Do not comjplain of your minister because there is no re¬ 
vival, if you are not doing your duty. It is of no use to com¬ 
plain of there being no revival, if you are not doing your duty. 
That alone is a sufficient reason why there should be no revi¬ 
val. It is a most cruel and abominable thing for a church to 
complain of their minister, when they themselves are fast 
asleep. It is very common for professors of religion to take 
great credit to themselves, and quiet their own consciences by 
complaining of their ministers. And when the importance of 
ministers’ being awake is spoken of, this sort of people are 
ready to say, We never shall have a revival with such a min¬ 
ister, when the fact is that their minister is much more awake 
than they are themselves. 

Another thing is true in regard to this point, and worthy of 
notice. When the church is sunk down in a low state, pro¬ 
fessors of religion are very apt to complain of the church , and 
of the low state of religion among them. That intangible and 
irresponsible being, the “ church,” is greatly complained of by 
them, for being asleep. Their complaints of the low state of 
religion, and of the coldness of the church or of the minister, are 
poured out dolefully, without seeming to realize that the church 
is composed of individuals, and that until each one will take 
his own case in hand, complain of himself and humble himself 
before God, and repent, and wake up, the church can never 
have any efficiency, and there never can be a revival. If in¬ 
stead of complaining of your minister, or of the church, you 
would wake up as individuals, and not complain of him or them 
until you can say you are pure from the blood of all men, and 
are doing your duty to save sinners, he would be apt to feel the 
justice of your complaints, and if he would not God would, and 
would either wake him up or remove him. 

3. Do not let your minister kill himself by attempting to 
carry on the work alone , while you fefu'Seto help him. It some¬ 
times happens that a minister finds the ark of the Lord will not 
move unless he lays out his utmost strength, and he has been 
<sq desirous of a revival that he has done this, and has died. 

18 * 


210 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


And he was willing to die for it. I could mention some cases 
in this state, where ministers h ive died, and no doubt in conse¬ 
quence of their labors to promote a revival where the church 
hung back from the work. 

I will mention one case. A minister, some years since, was 
laboring where there was a revival; and was visited by an el¬ 
der of a church at some distance who wanted him to go and 
preach there. There was no revival there, and never had 
been, and the elder complained about their state, said they 
had had two excellent ministers, one had worn himself com¬ 
pletely out and died, and the other had exhausted himself, and 
got discouraged, and left them, and they were a poor and fee¬ 
ble church, and their prospects very dark unless they could have 
a revival, and so he begged this minister to go and help them. 
He seemed to be very sorrowful, and the minister heard his 
whining, and at last replied by asking, Why did you never 
have a revival? I don’t know, said the elder. Our minister 
labored hard, but the church did not seem to wake up, and 
somehow there seemed to be no revival. “ Well, now,” said 
the minister, “ I see what you want; you have killed one of 
God’s ministers, and broke down another so that he had to 
leave you, and now you want to get another there and kill him, 
and the devil has sent you here to get me to go and rock your 
cradle for yoii. You had one good minister to preach to you, 
but you slept on, and he exerted himself till he absolutely died 
in the work. Then the Lord let you have another, and still 
you lay and slept, and would not wake up to your duty. And 
now you have come here in despair, and want another minis¬ 
ter, do you ? God forbid that you should ever have another 
while you do as you have done. God forbid that you should 
ever have a minister, till the church will wake up to duty.” 
The elder was affected, for he was a good man. The tears 
came in his eyes, and he said it was no more than they deserv¬ 
ed. “ And now,” said the minister, “ will you be faithful, and 
go home and tell the church what I say? If you will, and 
'they will be faithful and wake up to duty, they shall have a 
minister, I will warrant them that.” The elder said he would, 
and he was true to his word; he went home and told the 
church how cruel it was for them to ask another minister to 
come among them, unless they would wake up. They felt it, 
and confessed their sins, and waked up to duty, and a minister 
was sent to them, and a precious and powerful revival followed. 

Churches do not realize how often their coldness and back¬ 
wardness may be absolutely the cause of the death of ministers. 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 211 

The state of the people, and of sinners, rests upon their mind, 
they travail in soul night and day, and they labor in season and 
out of season, beyond the power of the human constitution to 
bear, till they wear out and die. The church know not the 
agony of a minister’s heart, when he travails for souls, and la¬ 
bors to wake up the church to help, and still sees them in the 
slumbers of death. Perhaps sometimes they will rouse up to 
spasmodic effort for a few days, and then all is cold again. And 
so many a faithful minister wears himself out and dies, and then 
these heartless professors are the first to blame him for doing 
so much. 

I recollect a case of a good minister, who went to a place 
where there was a revival, and while there heard a pointed ser¬ 
mon to ministers. He received it like a man of God; he did 
not rebel against God’s truth, but he vowed to God that he never 
would rest until he saw a revival among his people. He re¬ 
turned home and went to work ; the church would not wake up, 
except a few members, and the Lord blessed them , and poured 
out his Spirit, but the minister laid himself down on his bed and 
died, in the midst of the revival. 

4. Be careful not to complain of plain, pointed preaching, 
even when its reproofs fasten on yourselves. Churches are apt 
to forget, that a minister is responsible only to God. They 
want to make rules for a minister to preach by, so as not to have 
it fit them. If he bears down on the church, and exposes the 
sins that prevail among them, they call it personal, and rebel 
against the truth. Or they say, he should not preach so plainly 
to the church before the world ; it exposes religion, they say, and 
he ought to take them by themselves and preach to the church 
alone, and not tell sinners how bad Christians are. But there 
are cases where a minister-can do no less than to show the 
house of Jacob their sins. If you ask, Why not do it when we 
are by ourselves? I answer, Just as if sinners did not know you 
did wrong. I will preach to you by yourselves, about your 
own sins, when you will get together by yourselves to sin. But 
as the Lord liveth, if you sin before the world, you shall be re¬ 
buked before the world. Is it not a fact that sinners do know 
how you live, and that they stumble over you into hell? Then 
do not blame ministers, when they see it their duty to rebuke 
the church openly, before the world. If you are so proud you 
cannot bear this, you need not expect a revival. Do not call 
preaching too plain, because it exposes the faults of the church. 
There is no such thing as preaching-too plain. 

5 . Sometimes professors take alarm, lest the minister should 


212 HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 

offend the ungodly by plain preaching. And they will begin to 
caution him against it, and ask him if he had not better alter a 
little to avoid giving offence, and the like. This fear is excited 
especially if some of the more wealthy and influential members 
of the congregation are offended, lest they should withdraw 
their support from the church, and no longer give their money 
to help to pay the minister’s salary, and so the burden will come 
the heavier on the church. They never can have a revival in 
such a church. Why, the church ought to pray above all 
things, that the truth may come on the ungodly like fire. What 
if they are offended? Christ can get along very well without 
their money. Do not blame your minister, nor ask him to 
change his mode of preaching to please and conciliate the un¬ 
godly. It is of no use for a minister to preach to the impenitent, 
unless he can preach the truth to them. And it will do no good 
for them to pay for the support of the gospel, unless it is 
preached in such a way, that they may be searched and saved. 

Sometimes church members will talk among themselves about 
the minister’s imprudence, and create a party, and get into a 
very wrong spirit, because the wicked are displeased. There 
was a place, where there was a powerful revival, and great 
opposition. The church were alarmed, for fear that if the 
minister was not less plain and pointed, some of the impenitent 
would go and join some other congregation. And one of the 
leading men in the church was appointed to go to the minister, 
and ask him not to preach quite so hard’, for if he continued to 
do so, such and such persons would leave the congregation. 
The minister asked, Is not the preaching true? “ Yes.” Does 
not God bless it? “ Yes.” Did you ever see the like of this 
work before in this place? “No, I never did.” “Get thee 
behind me, Satan, the devil has sent you here on this errand ; 
you see God is blessing the preaching, the work is going on, 
and sinners are converted every day, and now you come to 
get me to let down the tone of preaching, so as to ease the 
minds of the ungodly.” The man felt the rebuke, and took 
it like a Christian; he saw his error and submitted, and 
never again was heard to find fault with the plainness of 
preaching. 

In another town, where there was a revival, a woman who 
had some influence, (not pious,) complained very much about 
plain, pointed, personal preaching, as she called it. But by and 
by she herself became a subject of the work. After this some 
of her impenitent friends reminded her of what she used to say 
against the preacher for “ preaching it out so hot.” She now 


HOW CHURCHES CAN IIF.LP MINISTERS. 213 

caid her views were altered, and she did not care how hot the 
truth was preached, if it was red hot. 

6. Do not take part with the wicked in any way. If you do 
it at all, you will strengthen their hands. If the wicked accuse 
the minister of being imprudent, or of being personal, and if 
the church members, without admitting that the minister does 
so, only admit that personal preaching is wrong, and talk about 
the impropriety of personal preaching, the wicked will feel 
themselves strengthened by such remarks. Do not unite with 
them at all, for they will feel that they have you on their side 
against their minister. You adopt their principles, and use 
their language, and are understood as sympathizing with them. 
What is personal preaching? No individual is ever benefited 
by preaching, until he is made to feel that it means him. Now 
such preaching is always personal. It often appears so per¬ 
sonal, to wicked men, that they feel as if they were just going 
to be called out by name, before the congregation. A minister 
w r as once preaching to a congregation, and when describing 
certain characters, he said, “ If I was omniscient, I could call 
out by name the very persons that answer to this picture.” A 
man cried out, “ Name me!” and he looked as if he was going 
to sink into the earth. He afterwards said that he had no idea 
of speaking out, but the minister described him so perfectly, 
that he really thought he was going to call him by name. The 
minister did not know there was such a man in the world. It 
is common for men to think their own conduct is described, and 
they complain, “ Who has been telling him about me? Some¬ 
body has been talking to him about me, and getting him to 
preach at me.” I suppose I have heard of five hundred or a 
thousand just such cases. Now if the church members will 
just admit that it is wrong for a minister to mean any body in 
his preaching, how can he do any good ? If you are not willing 
your minister should mean any body, or preach to any body, 
you had better dismiss him. Whom must he preach to, if not 
to the persons’, the individuals before him? And how can he 
preach to them, when he does not mean them ? 

7. If you wish to stand by your minister in promoting a re¬ 
vival, do not by your lives contradict his preaching. If he 
preaches that sinners are going to hell, do not give the lie to it, 
and smile it all away, by your levity and unconcern. I have 
heard sinners speak of the effect produced on their minds, by 
levity in Christians, after a solemn and searching discourse. 
They feel solemn and tender, and begin to be alarmed at their 
condition, and they see these professors, instead of weeping over 


214 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


them, all light and easy, as much as to say, “ Don’t be afraid, 
sinners, it ain’t so bad, after all; keep cool and you will do well; 
do you think we would laugh and joke, if you were going to 
hell so fast? We should not laugh if only your house was on 
fire, still less if we saw you burning in it.” Of what use is it for 
a minister to preach to sinners, in such a state of things? 

8. Do not needlessly take up ike time of your minister. 
Ministers often lose a great deal of time by individuals calling 
on them to talk, when they have nothing of importance to talk 
about, and no particular errand. The minister of course is glad 
to see his friends, and often too willing to spend time in conver¬ 
sation with his people, as he loves and esteems them. Profess¬ 
ors of religion should remember that a minister’s time is worth 
more than gold, for it can be employed in that which gold can 
never buy. If the minister is kept from his knees, or from his 
Bible, or his study, that they may indulge themselves in his con¬ 
versation, they do a great injury. When you have a good rea¬ 
son for it, you should never be backward to call on him, and 
eVen take up all the time that is necessary. But if you have 
nothing in particular to say that is important, keep away. I 
knew a man in one of our cities, who was out of business, and 
he used to take up months of the minister’s time. He would 
come to his study, and sit for three hours at a time, and talk, 
because he had nothing else to do, till finally, the minister had 
to rebuke him plainly, and tell him how much sin he was com¬ 
mitting. 

9. Be sure not to sanction any thing that is calculated to 
divert public attention from the subject cf religion. Often when 
it comes the time of year to work,when the evenings are long, 
and business is light, and the very time to make an extra effort, 
at this moment, somebody in the church will give a party, and 
invite some Christian friends, so as to hav6 it a religious party. 
And then some other family must do the same, to return the 
compliment. Then another and another, till it grows into an 
organized system of parties, that consume the whole winter. 
Abominable! This is the grand device of the devil, because it 
appears so innocent, and so proper, to promote good feeling, and 
increase the acquaintance of Christians with each other. And 
so, instead of prayer meetings they will have these parties. 

The evils of these parties are very great. They are often 
got up at great expense, and the most abominable gluttony is 
practised in them. It is said that the expense is from one hun¬ 
dred to two thousand dollars. I have been told that in some 
instances, professed Christians have given great parties, and 


HOW CHURCHES CAN IIELT MINISTERS. 


215 


made great entertainments, and excused their ungodly prodiga¬ 
lity in the use of Jesus Christ's money, by giving what was left, 
after the feast was ended, to the poor ! Thus making it a virtue 
to feast and riot, even to surfeiting, on the bounties of God’s 
providence, under pretence of benefiting the poor. This is the 
same in principle, with a splendid ball which was given some 
years since, in a neighboring city. The ball was got up for 
the benefit of the poor, and each gentleman was to pay a certain 
sum, and after the ball was ended, whatever remained of the 
funds thus raised, was to be given to the poor. Truly this is 
strange charity, to eat and drink and dance, and when they have 
rioted and feasted until they can enjoy it no longer, they deal out 
to the poor the crumbs that have fallen from the table. I do not 
see why such a ball is not quite as pious as such Christian par¬ 
ties. The evil of balls does not consist simply in the exercise 
of dancing, but in the dissipation, and surfeiting, and tempta¬ 
tions connected with them. 

But it is said they are Christian parties, and that they are all, 
or nearly all, professors of religion who attend them. And fur¬ 
thermore, that they are concluded, often, with prayer. Now I 
regard this as one of the worst features about them ; that after 
the waste of time and money, the excess in eating and drinking, 
the vain conversation, and nameless fooleries , with which such 
a season is filled up, an attempt should be made to sanctify it, 
ana palm it off upon God, by concluding it with prayer. Say 
what you will, it would not be more absurd or incongruous, or 
impious, to close a ball, or a theatre, or a caid party with prayer. 

Has it come to this, that professors of religion, professing to 
desire the salvation of the world, when such calls are made 
upon them, from the four w'inds of heaven, to send the gospel, to 
furnish Bibles, and tracts, and missionaries, to save the world 
from death, that they should spend hundreds of dollars in an 
evening, and then go to the monthly concert and pray for the 
heathen! 

In some instances, I have been told, they find a salvo for 
their consciences, in the fact that their minister attends their 
parties. This, of course, would give weight to such an ex¬ 
ample, and if one professor of religion made a party and invited 
their minister, others must do the same. The next step they 
take, may be for each to give a ball, and appoint their minister 
a manager! Why not? And perhaps, by and by, he will do 
them the favor to play the fiddle. In my estimation he might 
quite as well do it, as to go and conclude such a party with 
prayer. 


/ 


21G 


IIOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


I have heard with pain, that a circle of parties, I know not to 
what extent, has been held in Rochester —that place so highly 
favored of the Lord. I know not through whose influence they 
have been got up, or by what particular persons they have been 
patronized and attended. But I should advise any congrega¬ 
tion, who are calculating to have a circle of parties, in the mean 
time to dismiss their minister, and let him go and preach where 
the people would be ready to receive the word and profit by it. 
and not have him stay and be distressed, and grieved, and 
killed, by attempting to promote religion among them, while 
they are engaged heart and hand in the service of the devil. 

Professors of religion should never get up any thing that may 
divert public attention from religion, without first having con¬ 
sulted their minister, and made it a subject of special prayer. 
And if they find it will have this effect, they ought never to do 
it. Subjects will often come up before the public which have 
this tendency; some course of lectures, or show, or the like. 
Professors ought to be wise, and understand what they are 
about, and not give countenance to any such thing, until they 
see what influence it will have, and whether it will hinder a 
revival. If it will do that, let them have nothing to do with it. 
Every such thing should be estimated by its bearing upon 
Christ's kingdom. 

In relation to parties, say what you please about their being 
an innocent recreation, I appeal to any of you who have ever 
attended them, to say whether they fit you for prayer, or in¬ 
crease your spirituality, or whether sinners are ever converted 
in them, or Christians made to agonize in prayer for souls? 

II. I am to mention several things which churches must DO, 
if they would promote a revival and aid their minister. 

1. They must attend to his temporal wants. A minister, 
who gives himself wholly to the work, cannot be engaged in 
worldly employments, and of course is entirely dependent on 
his people for the supply of his temporal wants, including the 
support of his family. I need not argue this point here, for you 
all understand this perfectly. It is the command of God, that 
“they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” But 
now look around and see how many churches do in this matter. 
For instance, when they want a minister, they will cast about 
and see how cheap they can get one. They will calculate to a 
farthing how much his salt will cost, and how much his meal, 
and then set his salary so low as to subject him to extreme in¬ 
convenience to get along and keep his family. A minister must 
have his mind at ease, to study and labor with effect, and he 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 217 

cannot screw down prices, and banter, and look out for the best 
chances to buy to advantage what he needs. If he is obliged to 
do this, his mind is embarrassed. Unless his temporal wants 
are so supplied, that his thoughts may be abstracted from them, 
how can he do his duty? 

2. Be honest with your minister. 

Do not measure out and calculate with how much salt and 
how many bushels of grain he can possibly get along. Re¬ 
member, you are dealing with Christ. And he calls you to 
place his ministers in such a situation, that with ordinary pru¬ 
dence temporal embarrassment is out of the question. 

3. Be punctual with him. 

Sometimes churches, when they are about settling a minister, 
have a great deal of pride about giving a salary! and they will 
get up a subscription, and make out aniamount which they never 
pay, and very likely never expected to pay. And so, after one, 
two, three, or four years, the society gets three or four hundred 
dollars in arrears to their minister, and then they expect he will 
give it to them. And all the while, they wonder why there is 
no revival! This may be the very reason, because the church 
have LIED; they,have faithfully promised to pay so much, 
and have not done it. God cannot consistently pour out his 
Spirit on such a church. 

4 . Pay him his salary without asking. 

Nothing is so embarrassing, often, to a minister, as to be 
obliged to dun his people for his salary. Often he gets ene¬ 
mies, and gives offence, by being obliged to call, and call, and 
call for his money, and then not get it as they promised. They 
would have paid it if their credit had been at stake, but when 
it is nothing but conscience and the blessing of God, they let it 
lie along. If aay .one of them had a note at the bank, you 
would see him careful and prompt to be on the ground before 
three o’clock. That is because the note will be protested, and 
they shall lose their character. But they know the minister 
will not sue them for his salary, and they are careless and let it 
run along, and he must suffer the inconvenience. This is net 
so common in the city as it is in the country. But in the coun¬ 
try, I have known some heart-rending cases of distress and 
misery, by the negligence and cruelty of congregations in with¬ 
holding that which is due. Churches live in habitual lying and 
cheating, and then wonder why they have no revival. How 
can thej?- wonder ? 

5. Pray for your minister. I mean something by this. And 
what do you suppose I mean ? Even the apostles used to urge 


218 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


the churches to pray for them. This is more important than 
you imagine. Ministers do not ask people to pray for them 
simply as men, nor that they may be filled with an abundance 
of the Spirit’s influences, merely to promote their personal en¬ 
joyment. But they know that unless the church greatly desires 
a blessing upon the labors of a minister, it is tempting God for 
him to expect it. Ilow often does a minister go into his pulpit, 
feeling that his heart is ready to break for the blessing of God, 
while he also feels that there is no room to expect it, for there 
is no reason to believe the church desire it! Perhaps he has 
been two hours on his knees in supplication, and yet because 
that the church do not desire a blessing, he feels as if his words 
would bound back in his face. 

1 have seen Christians who would be in an agony, when the 
minister was going into the pulpit, for fear his mind should be 
in a cloud, or bis heart cold, or he should have no unction, and 
.so a blessing should not cone. I have labored with a man of 
this sort. He would pray until he got an assurance in his mind, 
that God would be with me in preaching, and sometimes he 
would pray himself sick. I have known the time, when he 
has been in darkness for a season, while the people were gath¬ 
ering, and his mind was full of anxiety, and lie would go again 
and again to pray, till finally he would come into the room-with 
a placid face, and say, “ The Lord lias come, and he will be with 
us.” And J do not know that I ever found him mistaken. 

I have known a church bear their minister on their arms in 
prayer from day to day, and watch with anxiety unutterable, to 
see that he has the Holy Ghost with him in his labors! When 
they feel and pray thus, O what feelings and what looks are 
manifest in the congregation! They have felt anxiety unutter¬ 
able to have the word com'e with power, and take effect, and 
when they see their prayer answered, and they hear a word or 
a sentence come WARM from the heart, and taking effect 
among the people, you can see their whole souls look out of 
their eyes. How different is the case, where the church feel 
that the minister is praying, and so there is no need of their 
iraying! They are mistaken. The church must desire and 
pray for the blessing. God says he will be inquired of by ike 
house of Israel. 1 wish you to feel that there can be no substi¬ 
tute for this. 

I have'seen cases in revivals, where the church was kept in. 
the back ground in regard to prayer, and persons from abroad 
were called on to pray in all the meetings. This is always 
unhappy, even if there should be a revival, for the revival must 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


219 


bo less powerful and less salutary in its influences upon the 
church. I do not know but I have sometimes offended Chris¬ 
tians and ministers from abroad, by continuing to call on mem¬ 
bers of the church in the place to pray, and not on those from 
abroad. It was not from any disrespect to them, but because 
the object was to get that chu*rch which was chiefly concerned, 
to desire, and pray,.and agonize for the blessing. 

In a certain place, a protracted meeting was held, with no 
good results, and great evils produced. I was led to make 
inquiry for the reason. And it came'out, that in all their meet¬ 
ings, not one member of their own church was called on to 
p^y. but all the prayers were made by persons from abroad. 
No wonder thebe was no good done. The church was not 
interested. The leader of the meeting meant well, but he 
undertook to promote a revival without gettingthechurchthere 
into the work. He let a la^r church lie still and do nothing, 
arid so there cduld be no good. * 

Churches should pray for ministers as the agents of breaking 
dawn sinners with the word of truth. Prayer for a minister is 
often done in a set and formal way, and confined to the prayer 
meetings. They will ••say their prayer's in the old way, as they 
have always done: “ Lord, bless thy ministering servant, whom 
thou hast stationed on this part of Zion’s walls,” and so on, and 
it amounts to nothing, because there is no heart in it. And 
the proof often is, that they never thought of praying for him 
in secret, they never have agonized in their closets fob a bless-» 
ing on his labors. They may not omit it wholly in their meet¬ 
ings. If they do that, it is evident that they care very little 
indeed about the labors pf their minister. But that is not the 
most important pldee. The .way to present effectual prayer for 
your minister is to take it to your closet, and when you are in 
secret, wrestle with God for success to attend his labors. 

I knew a case of a 1 minister in ill health, who became de¬ 
pressed and sunk down in his mind, and was very much in 
darkness, so that he did not feel as if he could preach any 
longer. An individual of the church was waked up to feel for 
the minister’s situation, and to pray that he might have the Holy 
Ghost to attend his preaching. One Sabbath morning, this 
person’s mind was very much exercised, and he began to pray 
as soon as it was light, and prayed again and again for .a bless¬ 
ing that day. And the Lord in some way directed the minister 
within hearing of his prayer. The person was telling the 
Lord just what he thought of the minister’s situation and state 
of mind, and pleading, as if he would not be denied, for a bless- 


220 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


ing. The minister went into the pulpit and preached, and the 
light broke in upon him, and the word was with power, and a 
revival commenced that, very day. 

6. A minister should be provided for by the church , and his 
support guaranteed, irrespective of the ungodly. Otherwise he 
may be obliged either to starve his family, or to keep back a 
part of the truth so as not to offend sinners. I once expostu¬ 
lated with a minister who I found was afraid to come out fully 
with the truth. 1 told him I was surprised he did not bear 
down on certain points. He told me he was so situated that he 
must please certain men, who would be touched there. It was 
the ungodly that chiefly supported him, and that made him de 
pendent and temporizing. And yet perhaps that very church 
which left their minister dependent on the ungodly for his 
bread, will turn round and abuse him for his want of faith, and 
his fear of men. The church ougflt always to say to their min 
ister, “We will support ypu; go to work; let the truth pour 
down on the people, and we will stand by you.” 

7. See that every thing is so arranged, that people can sit 
comfortably in meeting. If people do not sit easy, it is difficult 
to get or to keep their attention. And if they are not attentive, 
they cannot be converted. They have come to hear for their 
lives, and they ought to be so situated that they can hear with 
all their souls, and have nothing in their bodily position to call 
for attention. Churches do not realize how important it is that 
the place of meeting should be made comfortable. I do not 
mean showy. All your glare and glory of rich chandeliers, 
and rich carpets, and splendid pulpits, is the opposite extreme, 
and takes off the attention just as badly, and defeats every ob¬ 
ject for which a sinner should come to meeting. You need not 
expect a revival there. 

8. See that the house of God is kept cleanly. The house of 
God should be kept as clean as you would want your own house 
to be kept. Churches are often kept excessively slovenly. I 
have seen them, where people used so much tobacco, and took 
so little care about neatness, that it was impossible to preach 
with comfort. Once in a protracted meeting, the thing was 
charged upon the church, and they had to acknowledge it, that 
they paid more money for tobacco than they did for the cause of 
missions. They could not kneel in their pews, and ladies could 
not sit without all the time watching their clothes, and they had 
to be careful where they stepped, because the house was so dirty, 
and there was so much tobacco juice running all about the floor. 
If people cannot go where they can hear without being annoyed 


5I0W CIIURCIIE3 CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


221 


with offensive sights and smells, and where they can kneel in 
prayer, what good will a protracted meeting do ? There, is an 
importance in these things, which is not realized. See that man! 
What is he doing? I am preaching to him about eternal life, 
and he is thinking about the dirty pew. And that woman is 
asking for a footstool to keep her. feet out of the tobacco juice. 
Shame! 

9. It is important thajt the house should be just warm enough, 
and not too warm. Suppose a minister comes into a house, and 
finds it cold; he sees as soon fts he gets in, that he might as 
well stay at home; the people are shivering, their feet cold, they 
feel as they should take cold, they are uneasy, and he wishes 
he was at home, for lie knows he cannot do any thing, but he 
must pjeach, cr they Will be disappointed. 

Or he may find the house too warm, and the people, instead 
of listening to ihe truth, are fanning, and pantjng for breath, 
and by and by a woman faints, and makes a-stir, and the train 
of thought and feeling is all lost, an<4 so a whole sermon is 
wasted to no good end. These little things take off the attention 
of people from the words of eternal life. And very often it is so, 
that if you drop a single link in the chain ©f argument, you lose 
the whole, and the people are-damned, just because the careless 
church do not see to the proper regulation of these little 
matters. 

10. The house should be well vertlilafed. Of all houses,, a 
church should be the most perfectly ventilated. If there is no 
change of the air, it passes through so* many lungs it becomes 
bad, and its vitality is exhausted, and the people pant, they know 
not why, apd feel an almost irresistible desire to sleep, and the 
minister preaches in vain. The sermon is lost, and worse than 
lost. I have often wondered that this matter should be so little 
the subject of thought. The elders and trustees will sit and 
hear a whole sermon, while the,people are all but ready to die 
for the want of air, and the minister is wasting his strength in 
preaching where the room is just like an exhausted receiver, 
and there they sit,,and*never think to do any thing to help the 
matter. They should take it upon themselves to see that this is 
regulated right, that the house is just warm enough, and the air 
kept pure. How important it is that the church should be 
awake to this subject, that the minister may labor to the best ad¬ 
vantage, and the people give their undivided attention to the 
truth, which is to save their souls. 

It is very common, when things are wrong, to have it all 
laid to the sexton. This is not so. Often the sexton is not 

19* 


+ 


222 IIOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 

f 

to blame. If the house is cold and uncomfortable, very often it 
is because the fuel is not good, or the stoves not suitable, or the 
house is so open it cannot be warmed. If it is too warm, per¬ 
haps somebody has intermeddled when he was out, and heaped 
on fuel without discretion. Or, if the sexton is in fault, per¬ 
haps it is because the- church do not pay him enough for his 
services, and he cannot afford to give the attention necessary to 
keep the church in order. Churches sometimes screw down 
the sexton’s salary, to the lowest point, so that he is obliged to 
slight his work. Or they will select one who is incompetent, 
for the sake of getting him' cheap, and then the thing 'is not 
done. The fault is in the church. Let them give an adequate 
compensation for the work, and it can be done, and done faith¬ 
fully. If one sexton will not do it right, another will, and the 
church are bound to see it done right, or else let them dismiss 
their minister, and not keep him, and at the same time have 
other things in a state so out of order that he loses all his work. 
What economy! To pay the minister’s salary, and then for the 
want of fifty dollars added to the sexton’s wages, every thing is 
so out of order that the minister’s labors are all lost, souls are 
lost, and your children and neighbors go down to hell! 

Sometimes this uncleanliness, arid-negligence, and confusion 
are chargeable to the minister. Perhaps he uses tobacco, and 
sets the example of defiling the house of God. Perhaps the 
pulpit will be the filthiest place in the house. I have some¬ 
times been in pulpits, that were too loathsome to be occupied 
by human beings. If a minister has no more piety and de¬ 
cency than this, no wonder things are at loose ends in the con¬ 
gregation. And generally it is even so. 

11. People should leave their dogs, and very young children, 
at home. I have often known contentions arise among dogs, 
and children to cry, just at that stage of the services, that would 
most effectually destroy the effect of the meeting. If children 
are present and weep, they should instantly be removed. I 
have sometimes known a mother or a nurse sit and toss her 

{ child, while its cries were diverting the attention of the whole 
congregation. This is cruel. And as for dogs, they had in¬ 
finitely better be dead, than to divert attention from the word 
of God: See that deacon; perhaps his dog has in this way 
destroyed more souls than the deacon will ever be instrumental 
in saving. 

12. The members of the church should aid the minister by 
visiting from house to house , and trying to save souls. Do not 
leave all this to the minister. It is impossible he should do it, 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


223 


even if he gives all his time, and neglects his study and his 
closet. Church members should take pains and qualify them¬ 
selves for this duty, so that they can be useful in it. 

13. They should hold Bible classes. Suitable individuals 
should be selected to hold Bible classes, for the instruction of 
the young people, and where those who* are awakened or 
affected by the preaching, can be received and be converted. 
As soon as any one is seen to be touched, let them be invited 
to join theJBible class, where they will be properly treated, and 
probably they will be converted. The church should select 
the best men for this service, and should all be on the look out 
to fill up the Bible classes. It has been done in this congrega¬ 
tion, and it is a very common thing, when persons are impress¬ 
ed, that they are observed by somebody, and invited to join the 
Bible class, and they will do it, and there they are converted. 
1 do not mean that we are doing all We ought to do in this 
way, or all we might do. We want mofe teachers, able and 
willing to take.charge of such classes. 

14. Churches should'sustain Sabbath schools , and in this way 
aid their ministers in saving souls. How can a minister attend 
to this and preach ? Unb*s« I he church will 'akeoff these respon' 
sibilities, and cares, anu labors, he must either neglect them, or 
be crushed. Let the church be WIDE AWAKE, watch and 
bring in children to the^chool, and teach them faithfully, and 
lay themselves out to promote a revival in the school. 

15. They should loatch over the members of the church. 
They should visit each other, in order to stir each other up, 
know each other's spiritual state, and provoke one another to love 
and good works. The minister cannot do it, he has not time; 
it is impossible he should study and prepare sermons, and at 
the same time visit every member of the church as often as it 
needs to be done to keep them advancing. The church are 
bound to do it. They are under oath to watch over each 
other’s spiritual welfare. But how is this done? Many do not 
know each other. They meet and pass each other as strangers, 
and never ask about their spiritual condition. But if they hear 
any thing bad of one, they go and tell it to others. Instead 
watching over each other for their good, they watch for their 
halting. How can they watch for good when they are not 
even acquainted with each other? 

16. The church should watch for the effect of preaching. If 
they are praying for the success of the preached word, they 
will watch for it of course. They should keep a look out, and 
when any in the congregation give evidence that the word of 


224 


IIOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


God has taken hold of them, they should follow it up. Wher¬ 
ever there are any exhibitions of feeling, those persons should 
he attended to, instantly, and not left till their impressions wear 
off They should talk to them, or get them visited, or get them 
into the anxious meeting, or into the Bible class, or bring them 
to the minister. If the members of the church do not attend to 
this, they neglect their duty. If they attend to it, they may do 
incalculable good. 

There was a pious young woman, who lived in ^ very cold 
and wicked place. She alone had the spirit of prayer, and she 
had been praying for a blessing upon the word. At length she 
saw one individual in the congregation who seemed to be affect¬ 
ed by the preaching, and as soon as the minister came from the 
pulpit, she came forward, agitated and trembling, and begged 
him to go and converse with the person immediately. He did 
so, and the individual was goon converted, and a revival follow¬ 
ed. Now one of your stupid professors would not have seen 
that individual awakened, and would have stumbled over half 
a dozen of them without notice, and let them go to hell. Pro¬ 
fessors should watch every sermon, and see how it affects the 
congregation. I do not mean that they- should be stretching 
their necks and staring about the house, but they should observe, 
as they may, and if they find any person affected by preaching, 
throw themselves in his way, and guide him to the Savior. 

17. Beware, and not give one ay all the preaching to others. 
If you do not take your portion, you will starve, and become like 
spiritual skeletons. Christians should take their portion to 
themselves. If the word should be quite searching to them, 
they should make the honest application and, lay it along side 
their heart and practise it, and live by it. Otherwise preaching 
will do them no good. 

18. Be ready to aid your minister in effecting his plans for 
doing good. When the minister is wise to devise plans for use¬ 
fulness, and the church ready to execute them, they may carry 
all before them. But when the church hang back from every 
enterprise until they are actually dragged into it, when they are 
opposing every proposal, because it will cost something , they 
are a dead weight upon a minister. If stoves are needed, O no, 
they will cost something. If lamps are called for, to prevent 
preaching in the dark, O no, they will cost something. And so 
they will stick up candles on the posts, or do without evening 
meetings altogether. If they stick up candles, it soon comes to 
pass that they either give no light, or some one must run round 
and snuff them. And so the whole congregation are disturbed 


IIOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 221 

oy the can die-snuffer, their attention taken ofT, and the sermon 
lost. 

I was once attending a protracted meeting, where we were 
embarrassed because there were no lamps to the house. I urged 
the people to get them, but they thought it would cost too much. 
1 then proposed to get them myself, and was about to do it., but 
found it would give offence, and we went on without. But the 
blessing did not come, to any great extent. How could it ? The 
church began by calculating to a cent how much it would cost, 
and they wouid not go beyond, to save souls from hell. 

So where a minister appoints a meeting, such people cannot 
have it, because it will cost something. If they can offer unto 
the Lord that which costs nothing, they will do it. Miserable 
helpers they are ! Such a church can have no revival. A min¬ 
ister might as well have a millstone about his neck, as such a 
church. He had better leave them, if he cannot learn them bet¬ 
ter, and go where he will not be so hampered. 

19. Church members should make it a point to attend prayer 
meetings , and attend in time. Some church members will always 
attend on preaching, because there they have nothing to do, but 
to sit and hear, and be entertained, but they will not attend 
prayer meetings, for fear they shall.be called on to do some¬ 
thing. Such members tie up the hands of the minister, and dis¬ 
courage his heart. Why do they employ a minister ? Is it. to 
amuse them by preaching? or is it that he may teach them the 
will of God that they may do it ? 

20. Church members ought to study and inquire what they 
can do , and then do it. Christians should be trained like a band 
of soldiers. It is the duty and office of a minister to train them 
for usefulness, to teach them and direct them, and lead them on, 
in such a way as to produce the greatest amount of moral in¬ 
fluence. And then they should stand their ground and do their 
duty, otherwise they will be right in the way. 

There are many other points which I npted, and intended to 
touch upon, but there is not time. I could write a book as big 
as this Bible, in detailing the various particulars that ought to 
be attended to. I must close with a few 

REMARKS. 

1. You see that a minister’s want of success may not be 
wholly on account of a want of wisdom in the exercise of his 
office, I am not going to plead for negligent ministers. I never 
will spare ministers from the naked truth, nor apply flattering 
titles to men. If they are blameworthy, let them be blamed. 


226 HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 

And no doubt they are always more or less to blame when the 
word produces no effect. But it is far from being true that they 
are always the principal persons to blame. Sometimes the 
church is much more to blame than the minister, and if an apostle 
or an angel from heaven were to preach, he could not produce a 
revival of religion in that church. Perhaps they are dishonest 
to their minister, or covetous, or careless about the conveniences 
of public worship. Alas! what a state many country churches 
are in, where, for the want of a hundred dollars, every thing is 
inconvenient and uncomfortable, and the labors of the preacher 
are lost. They live in ceiled houses themselves, and let the 
house of God lie waste Or the church counteract all the in- 
fluence of preaching, by their ungodly lives. Or perhaps their 
parties, their worldly show, as in most of the churches i' this 
city, annihilate the influence of the gospel. 

*2. Churches should remember that they are exceedin'" yguilty, 
to employ a minister, and then not aid him in his w . k. The 
Lord Jesus Christ has sent an ambassador to sinners, to turn 
them from their evil ways, and he fails of his errand, because the 
church refuse to do their duty. Instead of recommending his 
message, and seconding his entreaties, and holding up his hands 
in all the ways that are proper, they stand right in tl e way, and 
contradict his message, and counteract his influence, and souls 
perish. No doubt in most of the congregations in the United 
States, the minister is often hindered so much, that he might as 
well be on a foreign mission a great part of the time, as to be 
there, for any effect of his preaching in the conversion of sin¬ 
ners, while he has to preach over the heads of an inactive, 
stupid church. 

And yet these very churches are not willing to have their 
minister absent a few days to attend a protracted meeting. “ We 
cannot spare him; why he is oar minister , and we like to have 
our minister here while at the same time they hinder all he 
can do. If he could, he would tear himself right away, and go 
where there is no minister, and where the people would be will¬ 
ing to receive the gospel. But there he must stay, though he 
cannot get the church into a state to have a revival once in three 
years, to last three months at a time. It might be well for him 
to say to the church, “Whenever you are determined to take 
one ol these long naps, I wish you to let me know if, so that l 
<an go and labor somewhere else in the mean time, till you are 
ready to wake again.” 

o. Many churches cannot be blessed with a revival, because 
they are spunging out of other churches, and out of the treasury 


nOW CHURCHES CAN nELP MINISTERS. 


227 


of the Lord, for the support of their minister, when they aro 
abundantly able to support him themselves. Perhaps they arc 
depending on the Home Missionary Society, or on other 
churches, while they are not exercising any self-denial for the 
sake of the gospel. I have been amazed to see how some 
ch urches live. One church that I was acquainted with, actually 
confessed that they spent more money for tobacco than they 
gave for missions. And yet they had no minister, because they 
were not able to support one. And they have none now. And 
yet there is one man in that church who is able to support a 
minister. And still they have no minister, and no preaching. 

The churches have not been instructed in their duty on this 
subject. I stopped in one place last summer, where there was 
no preaching. 1 inquired of an elder in the church, why it 
was so, and he said it was because they were so poor. 1 asked 
him how much he was worth. He did not give me a direct 
answer, bi*t said that another elder’s income was about $500 
a year, and 1 finally found out that this man’s was about the 
same. Here, said I, are two elders, each of you able to sup¬ 
port a minister, and because you cannot get help from abroad, 
you have no preaching. Why, if you had preaching, it would 
not be blessed, while you were thus sponging out of the 
Lord’s treasury. Finally, he confessed that he was able to 
support a minister, and the two together agreed that they would 
do it. 

It is common for churches to ask help, when in fact they do 
not need any help, and when it would bp a great deal better for 
them to support their own minister. If they get funds from the 
Home Missionary Society, when they ought to raise them them¬ 
selves, they may expect the curse of the Lord upon them, and 
this will be a sufficient reason for the gospel’s proving to them 
a curse rather than a blessing. Of how many churches might 
it be said, “Ye have robbed God, even this tvhole church.” 

I know a church who employed a minister but half the time, 
and felt unable to pay his salary for that. A female working 
society in a neighboring town appropriated their funds to this 
object, and assisted this church in paying their minister’s sal¬ 
ary. The result was, as might be expected. He did them lit¬ 
tle” or no good. They had no revival under his preaching, nor 
could they ever expect any, while acting on such a principle. 
There was one man in that congregation who could support a 
minister all the time. I was informed by a member, that the 
church members were supposed to be worth two hundred 
thousand dollars. Now if this is true, here is a church 


228 


IIOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


with an income, at seven per cent., of $14,000 a year, who felt 
themselves too poor to pay $200 for support of a minister to 
preach half the time, and would suffer the females of a neigh¬ 
boring 1 town to work with their own hands to aid them in pay¬ 
ing this sum. Among the elders of this church, I found that 
several of them used tobacco, and two of them who lived together 
signed a covenant written on the blank leaf of their Bible, in 
which they pledged themselves to abandon that sin for ever. 

It was in a great measure for want of right instruction, that 
this church was pursuing such a course. For when the sub¬ 
ject was taken up, and their duty laid before them, the wealthy 
man of whom I am speaking said that he would pay the whole 
salary himself, if he thought it would not be resented by the 
congregation, and do more hurt than good; and that if the 
church would procure a minister, and go ahead and raise a pait 
of his salary, he would make up the remainder. They can 
now not only support a minister half the time, but all the time, 
and pay his salary themselves. And they will find it good and 
profitable to do so. 

As I have gone from place to place laboring in revivals, I 
lunge always found that churches were blessed in proportion to 
their liberality. Where they have manifested a disposition to sup¬ 
port the gospel, and to pour their substance liberally into the treas- 
sury of the Lord, they have been -blessed both in spiritual 
and in temporal thiqgs. But where they have been parsi¬ 
monious, and let the minister preach for them for little or 
nothing, these churches have been cursed instead of blessed. And 
as a general thing, in revivals'of religion, I have found it to be 
true that young Converts are most inclined to join those churches 
which are most liberal in making efforts to support the gospel. 

The churches are very much in thfe dark on this subject. 
They have not been taught their duty. I have in many instan¬ 
ces found an exceeding readiness to do it, when the subject was 
laid before them. I knew an elder in a church, who was talk¬ 
ing about getting a minister for half the time, because the church 
were poor, although his own income was considerable. I asked 
him if his income was not sufficient to support a minister all 
the time himself. He said it was. And on being asked what 
other use he could make of the Lord’s money which he pos¬ 
sessed, that would prove so beneficial to the interest of Christ’s 
kingdom, as to employ a minister not only half but all the time 
in his own town, he concluded to set himself about it. A min¬ 
ister has been accordingly obtained, and I believe they find no 
difficulty in paying him his full salary. 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


229 


The fact is, that a minister can do but little by preaching only 
half the time. If on one Sabbath an impression is made, 
it is lost before a fortnight comes round. As a matter of 
economy, a church should lay themselves out to support the 
gospel all the time. If they get the right sort of a minister, 
and keep him steadily at work, they may have a revival, and 
thus the ungodly will be converted and come in and help them. 
And thus in one year they may have a great accession to their 
strength. But if they employ a minister but half the time, year 
after year may roll away, while sinners are going to hell, and 
no accession is made to their strength from the ranks of the 
ungodly. 

The fact is, that professors of religion have not been made to 
feel, that all their possessions are the Lord’s. Hence they have 
talked about giving their property for the support of the gospel. 
As if the Lord Jesus Christ was a beggar, and they called upon 
to support his gospel, as an act of almsgiving ! A merchant in one 
of the towns in this state, was paying a large part of his minis¬ 
ter’s salary. One of the members of the church was relating 
the fact to a minister from abroad, and speaking of the sacrifice 
which this merchant was making. At this moment the mer- 
chant came in. “Brother,” said the minister, “ you are a mer-. 
chant. Suppose you employ a clerk to sell goods, and a school¬ 
master to teach your children. You order your clerk to pay 
your school-master out of the store such an amount, for his 
services in teaching. Now suppose your clerk should give out 
that he had to pay this school-master his salary, and should 
speak of the sacrifices that he was making to do it, what would 
you say to this?” “ Why,” said the merchant, “ I should say 
it was ridiculous.” “ Well,” says the minister, “ God employs 
you to sell goods as his clerk, and your minister he employs 
to teach his children, and requires you to pay his salary out ol 
the income of the store. Now, do you call this your sacrifice, 
and say that you are making a great sacrifice, to pay this min¬ 
ister’s salary ? No, you are just as much bound to sell goods 
for God, as he is to preach for God. You have no more right 
to sell goods for the purpose of laying up money, than he has 
to preach the gospel for the same purpose. You are bound to 
be just as pious, and to aim as singly at the giory of God, in 
selling goods, as he is in preaching the gospel. And thus you 
are as absolutely to give up your whole time for the service of 
God, as he does. You and your family may lawfully live out 
of the avails of this store, and so may the minister and his 
family, just as lawfully. If you sell goods from these motives, 


230 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


selling goods is just as much serving God as preaching. And 
a man who sells goods upon these principles, and acts in con¬ 
formity to them, is just as pious, just as much in the service of 
God, as he is who preaches the gospel. Every man is bound 
to serve God in his calling, the ministeT by teaching, the mer¬ 
chant by selling goods, the farmer by tilling his fields, the 
lawyer and physician by plying the duties of their profession. 

“ It is equally unlawful for any one of these to labor for the 
meat that perisheth. All they do is to be for God, and all they 
can earn, after comfortably supporting their families, is to he 
dedicated to the spread of the gospel and the salvation of the 
world.” 

It has long enough been supposed that ministers must be 
more pious than other men, that they must not love the world, 
that they must labor -for God: they must live as frugally as 
possible, and lay out their whole time, and health, and strength, 
and life, to build up the kingdom of Jesus Christ. This is true. 
But although other men are not called to labor in the same 
field, and to give up their time to public instruction, yet they 
are just as absolutely bound to consider their whole time as 
God’s, and have no more right to love the world, or accumulate 
wealth, or lay it up for their children, or spend it upon their 
lusts, than ministers have. 

It is high time the church was acquainted with these princi¬ 
ples ; and the Home Missionary Society may labor till the day 
of judgment to convert the people, and they will never succeed, 
till the churches are led to understand and feel their duty in this 
respect. Why, the very fact that they are' asking and receiv¬ 
ing aid in supporting their minister from the Home Missionary 
Society while they are able to support him themselves, is pro¬ 
bably the very reason why his labors among them are not more 
blessed. 

I would that the American Home Missionary Society pos¬ 
sessed a hundred times the means that it now does, of aiding 
feeble churches, that are unable to help themselves. But it is 
neither good economy nor piety, to give their funds to those who 
are able but unwilling to support the gospel. For it is in vain 
to attempt to help them, while they are able but unwilling to 
help themselves. 

If the Missionary Society had a ton of gold, it would be no 
charity to give it to such a church. But let the church bring 
in all the tithes to God’s storehouse, and God will open the win¬ 
dows of heaven and pour down a blessing. But let the churches 
know assuredly that if they are unwilling to help themselves to 


HOW CHURCHES CAN HELP MINISTERS. 


231 


the extent of their ability, they will know the reason why such 
small success attends the labors of their ministers. Here they 
are springing their support from the Lord’s treasury. How 
many churches are laying out their money for tea and coffee 
and tobacco, and then come and ask aid from the Home Mis¬ 
sionary Society ! I will protest against aiding a church who use 
tea and tobacco, and live without the least self-denial, and who 
want to offer God only that which costs nothing. 

Finally— If they mean to be blessed, let them do their duty, 
do all their duty, put shoulder to the wheel, gird on the gospel 
armor, and come up to the work. Thcn,'\t the church is in the 
field , the car of salvation will move on, though all hell oppose, 
and sinners will be converted and saved. But if a church will 
give up all the labor to the minister, and sit still and look on, 
while he is laboring, and themselves do nothing but complain 
of him, they will not only fail of a revival of religion, but if they 
continue slothful and censorious, will *by and by find themselves 
in hell for their disobedience and unprofitableness in the ser¬ 
vice of Christ. 


LECTURE XIV. 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 

Text. —“These men, beins; Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach 
customs whiq^i are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Ro¬ 
mans.”— Acts xvi. 20, 21. 

. *• . * • 

“These men,” here spoken of, were Paul and Silas, who 
went to Philippi to preach the gospel, and very much disturbed 
the people of that city, because they supposed the preaching 
would interfere with their worldly gains. And so they arraigned 
the preachers of the gospel before the magistrates of the city, as 
culprits, and charged them'with teaching doctrines, and especially 
employing measures, that were not lawful. 

In discoursing from these words 1 design to show, 

I. That under the gospel dispensation, God has established 
no 'particular system- of measures to be employed and invariably 
adhered to in promoting religion. 

II. To show, that our present forms of public worship, and 
every thing, so far as measures are concerned, have been arrived 
at by degrees , and by a succession of Neio Measures. 

I. I am to show that under the gospel, God has established 
no particular measures to be used. 

Under the Jewish dispensation, there were particular forms 
enjoined and prescribed by God himself, from which it was not 
lawful to depart. But these forms were all typical , and were 
designed to shadow forth Christ, or something connected with 
the new dispensation that Christ was to introduce. And there¬ 
fore they were fixed, and all their details particularly prescribed 
by Divine authority. But it was never so under the gospel. 
When Christ came, the ceremonial or typical dispensation was 
abrogated, because the design of those forms was fulfilled, and 
therefore themselves of no further use. He, being the anti-type, 
the types were of course done away at his coming. THE 
GOSPEL was then preached as the appointed means of pro¬ 
moting religion; and it was left to the discretion of the church 
to determine, from time to time, what measures shall be adopted, 
and what forms pursued, in giving the gospel its power. We 
are left in the dark as to the measures which were pursued by 
the apostles and primitive preachers, except so far as wc cam 





MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


233 


gather it from occasional hints in the hook of Acts. We do not 
know how many times they sung and how many times they 
prayed in public worship, nor even whether they sung or prayed 
at all in their ordinary meetings for preaching. When Jesus 
Christ was on earth, laboring among his disciples, he had no¬ 
thing to do with forms or measures. He did from time to time 
in this respect just as it would be natural for any man to do in 
such cases, without any thing like a set form or mode of doing 
it. The Jews accused him of disregarding their forms. His 
object was to preach and teach mankind the true religion. And 
when the apostles preached afterwards, with the Holy Ghost sent 
down from heaven, we hear nothing about their having a par¬ 
ticular system of measures to carry on their work, or one apos¬ 
tle doing a thing in a particular way because others did it in 
that way. Their commission was, “ Go and preach the gospel, 
and disciple all nations.” It did not prescribe any forms. It did 
not admit any. No person can pretend to get any set of forms 
or particular directions as to measures, out of this commission. 
Do it—the best way you can—ask wisdom from God—use the 
faculties he has given you—seek the direction of the Holy 
Ghost—go forward and do it. This was their commission. And 
their object was to make known the gospel in the most effectual 
way , to make the truth stand out strikingly, so as to obtain the 
attention and secure the obedience of the greatest number possi¬ 
ble. No person can find any form of doing this laid down in 
the Bible. It is 'preaching the gospel that stands out prominent 
there as the great thing. The form is left out of the question. 

It is manifest, that, in preaching the gospel, there must be 
some kind of measures adopted. The gospel must be gotten be¬ 
fore the minds of the people, and measures must be taken so 
that they can hear it, and to induce them to attend to it. This 
is done by building churches, holding stated or other meetings, 
and so on. Without some measures, it can never be made to 
lake effect among men. 

II. I am to show that our present forms of public worship, 
and every thing, so far as measures are concerned, have been 
arrived at by.degrees, and by a succession of New Measures. 

1. I will mention some things in regard to the ministry. 

Many years ago, ministers were accustomed to wear a pecu¬ 
liar habit. It is so now in Catholic countries. It used to be 
so here. Ministers had a peculiar dress as much as soldiers. 
They used to wear a cocked hat, and bands instead of a cravat 
or stock, and small clothes, and a wig. No matter how much 
hair a man had on his head, he must cut it off and wear a wig. 

20 * 


234 MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVAL8. 

And then he must wear a gown. All these things were cus¬ 
tomary. and every clergyman was held hound to wear them, 
and it was not considered proper for him to officiate without 
them. All these had doubtless be,en introduced by a succession 
of innovations, for we have no good reason for believing that 
the apostles and primitive ministers dressed differently from 
other men. 

But now all these things have been given up, one by one, by 
a succession of innovations or new measures, until now in many 
churches a minister can go into the 'pulpit and preach without 
being noticed, although dressed like any other man. And when 
it was done in regard to each one of them, the church complain¬ 
ed as much as if it had been a Divine institution given up. It 
was denounced as an innovation. When ministers began to lay 
aside their cocked hats, and wear hats like other men, it griev¬ 
ed the elderly people very mu,ch; it looked so “undignified,” 
they said*, for a minister to wear a round hat. When, in 1827 
I wore a fur cap, a minister said, “ that was too bad for a min¬ 
ister.” 

When ministers first began, a few years since, to wear white 
hats, it was thought by many to be a sad and very undignified 
innovation. And even now, they are so bigoted in some places, 
that a clergyman told me but a few days since, in travelling 
through New England last summer with a white hat, he could 
perceive that it injured his influence. This spirit should not be 
looked upon as harmless; I have good reason to know that it is 
not harmless. Thinking men see it to be mere bigotry, and are 
exceedingly in danger of viewing every thing about religion in the 
same light on this account. This has been the result in many 
instances. There is at this day scarcely a minister in the land 
who does not feel himself obliged to wear a black coat, as much 
as if it were a divine institution. The church is yet filled with 
a kind of superstitious reverence for such things. This is a great 
stumbling block to. many minds, 

So, iri like manner, when ministers laid aside their bands, and 
wore cravats or stocks, it was said they were becoming secular, 
and mqny found fault. Even now, in some places, a minister 
would not dare to be seen in the pulpit in a cravat or stock. The. . 
people would feel as if they had no clergyman, if he had no 
bands. A minister in this city asked another, but a few days 
since, if it would do to wear a black stock in the pulpit. He 
wore one in his ordinary intercourse with his people, but doubt¬ 
ed whether it would do to wear it in the pulpit. 

So in regard to short clothes; they used to be thought essen- 



MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 235 

tial to the ministerial character. Even now, in Catholic coun¬ 
tries, every priest wears small clothes. Even the little boys 
there, who are training for the priest’s office, wear their cocked 
hats, and black stockings, and small clothes. This would look 
ridiculous amongst us. But it used to be practised in this coun¬ 
try. The time was when good people would have been shocked 
if a minister had gone into the pulpit with pantaloons on. They 
would have thought he was certainly going to ruin the church 
by his innovations. I have been told that some years ago, in 
New England, a certain elderly clergyman was so opposed to 
the new measure of a minister’s wearing pantaloons, that he 
would on no account allow them in his pulpit. A young man 
was going to preach for him, who had no small clothes, and the 
old minister would not let him officiate in pantaloons. “ Why,” 
said he, “ my people would think 1 had brought a fop into the 
pulpit, to see a man there with pantaloons on, and it would pro¬ 
duce an excitement among them.” And so, finally, the young 
man was obliged to borrow a pair cf the old gentleman’s clothes, 
and they were too short for him, and made a ridiculous figure 
enough. But any thing was better than such a terrible inno¬ 
vation as preaching in pantaloons. But reason has triumphed. 

Just so it was in regard to wigs. I remember one minister, 
who, though quite a young man, used to wear an enormous 
white wig. And the. people talked as if there was a divine 
right about it, and it was as hard to give it up, almost, as to give 
up the Bible itself. Gowns also were considered essential to the 
ministerial character. And even now, in many, congregations 
in this country, the people will not tolerate a minister in the pul¬ 
pit, unless he has a flowing silk gown, with enormous sleeves 
as big as his body. Even in some of the Congregational 
churches in New England, they cannot bear to give it up. Now, 
how came people to suppose a minister must have a gown or a 
wig, in order to preach with effect'? Why was it that every 
clergyman was held obliged to use these things? IIow is it 
that not one of these things have been given up in the churches, 
without producing a shock among them ? They have all been 
given up, one by one, and many congregations have been dis¬ 
tracted fora time by the innovation. But will any one \ retend 
that the cause of religion has been injured by it? People felt 
as if they could hardly worship God without them, but plainly 
their attachment to them was no part of their religion, that is, no 
par. of the Christian religion. It was mere superstition. And 
when these things were taken away they complained, as Micah 
did, “ Ye have taken away my gods.” But no doubt their re- 


236 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


ligious character was improved, by removing these objects of 
superstitious reverence. So that the church, on the whole, has 
been greatly the gainer by the innovations. Thus you see that 
the present mode of a minister’s dress has been gained by a 
series of new measures. 

2. In regard to the order of public worship. 

The same difficulties have been met in effecting every change, 
because the church have felt as if God had established just the 
mode which they were used to. 

(1.) Psalm Books. Formerly it was customary to sing Da¬ 
vid’s Psalms. By and by there was introduced a version of the 
Psalms in rhyme. This was very bad, to be sure. When 
ministers tried to introduce them, the churches were distracted, 
people violently opposed, and great trouble was created by the 
innovation. But the new measure triumphed. 

Afterwards another version was brought forward in a better 
style of poetry, and its introduction was opposed with much con¬ 
tention, as a new measure. And finally Watts’s version, which 
is still opposed in many churches. No longer ago than 1828, 
when I was in Philadelphia, I was told that a minister there 
was preaching a course of lectures on psalmody to his congre¬ 
gation, for the purpose of bringing them to use a better version, 
of psalms and hymns than the one they were accustomed to. 
And even now, in a great many congregations, there are peo¬ 
ple who will go out of church, if a psalm or hymn is given out 
from a new book. And if Watts’s Psalms should be adopted, 
they would secede and form a new congregation, rather than 
tolerate such an innovation. The same sort of feeling has 
been excited by introducing the “Village Hymns” in prayer 
meetings. In one Presbyterian congregation in this city, within 
a few years, the minister’s wife wished to introduce the Vil¬ 
lage Hymns into the female prayer meetings, not daring to go 
any further. She thought she was going to succeed. But some 
of the careful souls found out that it was made in New England, 
and refused to admit it. “ It is a Hopkinsian thing, I dare say.” 

(2.) Lining the Hymns. Formerly, when there were but 
few books, it w r as the custom to line the hymns, as it was called. 
The deacon used to stand up before the pulpit, and read off the 
psalm or hymn, a line at a time, or tw’o lines at a time, and 
then sing* and the rest would all fall in. By and by, they be¬ 
gan to introduce books, and let every one sing from his book. 
And w r hat an innovation! Alas, what confusion and disorder 
it made! How could the good people worship God in singing, 
without having the deacon to line off the hymn in his holy tone, 







MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


237 


for the holiness of it seemed to consist very much in the tone, 
which was such that you could hardly tell whether he was 
reading or singing. 

(3.) Choirs. Afterwards another innovation was carried. 
It was thought best to have a select choir of singers sit by them¬ 
selves and sing, so as to give an opportunity to improve the mu¬ 
sic. But this was bitterly opposed. O how many congrega¬ 
tions were torn and rent in sunder, by the desire of ministers 
and some leading individuals to bring about an improvement 
in the cultivation of music, by forming choirs of singers. Peo¬ 
ple talked about innovations and new measures, and thought 
great evils were coming to the churches, because the singers 
were seated by themselves, and cultivated music, and learned 
new tunes that the old people could not sing. It did not use to 
be so when they were young, and they would’nt tolerate such 
new lights and novelties in the church. 

(4.) Pilchpipes. When music was cultivated, and choirs seat¬ 
ed together, then the singers wanted a pitchpipe. Formerly, 
when the lines were given out by the deacon or clerk, he would 
strike off into the tune, and the rest would follow as well as they 
could. But when the leaders of choirs begun io use pitchpipes 
for the purpose of pitching all their voices on ptecisely the same 
key, what vast confusion it ma.de! I heard a clergyman say 
that an elder in the town where he used to live, would get up 
and leave the house whenever he heard the chorister blow his 
pipe. “ Away with your whistle,” said he. “What! whistle 
in the house of God !” He thought it a profanation. 

(5.) instrumental Music. By and by, in some congrega¬ 
tions, various instruments were introduced for the purpose of 
aiding the sipgers, and improving the music. When the bass 
viol was first introduced, it made a great commotion. People 
insisted they might just as well have a fiddle in the house of 
God. “ Why, it is a fiddle, it is made just like a fiddle, only a 
little larger, and who can worship where there is a fiddle ? By 
and by you will want to dance in the meeting house.” Who has 
not heard these things talked of, as matters of the most vital im¬ 
portance to the cause of religion an‘d the purity of the church % 
Ministers, in grave ecclesiastical assemblies, have spent days 
in discussing them. In a synod in the Presbyterian- church, 
only a few years ago, it was seriously talked of by some, as a 
matter worthy of discipline in a certain church, that $hey had an 
organ in the house of God. This within a few years. And 
there are many churches now who would not tolerate an organ. 
They would not be half so much excited to be told that sinners 


238 MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 

are going to hell, as to be told that there is going to be an organ 
in the meeting house. O, in how many places can you get the 
church to do any thing else, easier than to come along in an 
easy and natural way to do what is needed, and wisest, and 
best, for promoting religion and saving souls! They act as if 
they had a “ Thus saith the Lord,” for every custom and prac¬ 
tice that has been handed down to them, or that they have long 
followed themselves, however absurd or injurious. 

(6.) Extemporary Prayers. How many people are there, 
who talk just as if the Prayer Book was of divine institution ! 
And I suppose multitudes believe it is. And in some parts of 
the church a man would not be tolerated to pray without his 
book before him. 

(7>.) Preaching without notes. A few years since, a lady in 
Philadelphia was invited to hear a certain minister preach, and 
she refused, because he did not read his sermons. She seemed 
to think it would be profane for a man to go into the pulpit and 
talk , just as if he was talking to the people about some interest¬ 
ing and important subject. Just as if God had enjoined the use 
of notes and written sermons. They do not know that notes 
themselves are an innovation, and a modern one too. They were 
introduced in a time of political difficulties in England. The 
ministers were afraid they should be accused of preaching some¬ 
thing against the government, unless they could show what they 
had preached, by having all written down beforehand. And 
with a time-serving spirit, they yielded to political considerations, 
and imposed a yoke of bondage upon the church. And, now in 
many places, they cannot tolerate extempore preaching. 

(8.) Kneeling in Prayer. This has made a great disturbance 
in many parts of the country. The time has been in the Con¬ 
gregational churches in New England, when a man or woman 
w r ould be ashamed to be seen kneeling at a prayer meeting, for 
fear of being taken for a Methodist. I have prayed in families 
where I was the only person that Avould kneel. The others all 
stood, lest they should imitate the Methodists, I suppose, and thus 
countenance innovations upon the established form. Others, 
again, talk as if there was no other posture but kneeling, that 
could be acceptable in prayer. 

3. Labors of Laymen. 

(1.) Lay Prayers. Much objection was formerly made against 
allowing any man to pray or to take a part in managing a prayer 
meeting, unless he was a clergyman. It used to be said that for 
a layman to pray in public, was interfering with the dignity 
of ministers, and was not to be tolerated. A minister in Penn- 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


239 


sylvania told me that, a few years ago he appointed a prayer 
meeting in the church, and the elders opposed it and turned it 
out of the house. They said they would not have such work, 
they had hired a minister to do the praying, and he should do 
it, and they were not going to have common men praying. 

Ministers and many others have very extensively objected 
against a layman’s praying in public, and especially in the pre¬ 
sence of a minister. That would let down the authority of 
the clergy, and was not to be tolerated. At a synod held in this 
state, there was a synodical prayer meeting appointed. The 
committee of arrangements, as it was to be a formal thing, de¬ 
signated beforehand the persons who were to take d part, and 
named two clergymen and one layman. The layman was a 
man of talents and information equal to most ministers. But 
one doctor of divinity got up and seriously objected to a lay¬ 
man’s being asked to pray before that synod. It was not usual, 
he said; it infringed upon the rights of the clergy, and he wished 
no innovations. What a state of thing’s! 

(2.) Lay exhortation. This has been made a question of vast 
importance, one which has agitated all New England, and many 
other parts of the country, whether laymen ought to be allowed 
to exhort in public meetings. Many ministers have labored to 
shut up the mouths of laymen entirely. They overlooked the 
practice of the primitive churches. So much opposition was 
made to this practice nearly a hundred years ago, that President 
Edwards actually had to take up the subject, and write a labored 
defence of the rights and duties of laymen. But the opposition 
has not entirely ceased to this day. “ What! A man that is 
not a minister, to talk in public! it will create confusion, it will 
let down the ministry; what will people think of us, ministers, 
if we allow common men to do the same things that we do?” 
Astonishing! 

But now, all these things are gone by, in most places; and 
laymen can pray and exhort without the least objection. The 
evils that were feared, from the labors of laymen, have not been 
realized, and many ministers are glad to have them exercise 
their gifts in doing good. 

4. Female Prayer Meetings. Within the last few years, 
female prayer meetings have been extensively opposed in this 
state. What dreadful things ! A minister, now dead, said that 
when he first attempted to establish these meetings, he had all 
the clergy around opposed to him. “Set women to praying? 
Why, the next thing, I suppose, will be to set them to preach¬ 
ing.” And serious apprehensions were entertained for the 


240 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


safety of Zion, if women should be allowed to get together to 
prav. And even now, they are not tolerated in some churches. 

So it has been in regard to all the active movements of the 
church. Missions, Sunday Schools, and every thing of the 
kind, have been opposed, and have gained their present hold in 
the church only by a succession of struggles and a series of 
innovations. A Baptist Association in Pennsylvania, some 
years since, disclaimed all fellowship with any minister that 
had been liberally educated, or that supported Missions, Bible 
Societies, Sabbath Schools, Temperance Societies, &c. All 
these were denounced as New Measures, not found in the Bible, 
and that would necessarily lead.to distraction and confusion in 
the churches. The same thing has been done by some among 
the German churches. And in many Presbyterian churches, 
there are found those who will take the same ground, and de¬ 
nounce all these things, with the exception, perhaps of an 
educated ministry, as innovations, new measures, new lights, 
going in their own strength, and the like, and as calculated to 
do great evil. 

5. I will mention several men who have in Divine providence 
been set forward as prominent in introducing these innovations. 

(1.) The apostles were great innovators, as you all know. 
After the resurrection, and after the Ploly Spirit was poured 
out upon them, they set out to remodel the church. They 
broke down the Jewish system of measures and rooted it out, so 
as to leave scarcely a vestige. 

(2.) Luther and the Reformers. You all know what diffi¬ 
culties they had to contend with, and the reason was. that they 
were trying to introduce new measures—new modes of perform¬ 
ing the public duties of religion, and new expedients to bring 
the gospel with power to the hearts of men. All the strange 
and ridiculous things of the Roman Catholics were held to in 
the church with pertinacious obstinacy, as if they were of Divine 
authority. And .such an excitement was raised by the attempt 
to change them, as well nigh involved all Europe in blood. 

(3.) Wesley and his coadjutors. Wesley did not at first tear 
off from the Established Church in England, but formed little 
classes every where, that grew into a church within a church. 
He remained in the Episcopal church, but he introduced so 
much of new measures, as to fill all England with excitement 
and uproar and opposition, and he was every where denounced 
as an innovator and a stirrer up of sedition, and a teacher of 
new things which it was not lawful to receive. 

Whitefield was a man of the same school, and like Wesley 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


241 


was an innovator. I believe he and several individuals of his 
associates were expelled from college for getting up such a new 
measure, as a social prayer meeting. They would pray to¬ 
gether and expound the Scriptures, and this was such a daring 
novelty that it could not be borne. When Whitefield came to 
this country, what an astonishing opposition was raised ! Often 
he well nigh lost his life, and barely escaped by the skin of his 
teeth. Now, every body looks upon him as the glory of the 
age in which he lived. And many of our own denomination 
have so far divested themselves of prejudice as to think Wesley 
not only a good but a wise and pre-eminently useful man. 
Then almost the entire church viewed them with animosity, 
fearing that the innovations they introduced would destroy the 
church. 

(4.) President Edwards. This great man was famous in 
his day for new measures. Among other innovations, he 
refused to baptize the children of impenitent parents. The 
practice of baptizing the children of the ungodly had been 
introduced in the New England churches in the preceding 
century, and had become nearly universal. President Edwards 
saw that the practice was wrong, and he refused to do it, and 
the refusal shook all the churches of New England. A hun¬ 
dred ministers joined and determined to put him down. He 
wrote a book on the subject, and defeated them all. It pro¬ 
duced one of the greatest excitements there ever was in New 
England. Nothing, unless it was the revolutionary war, ever 
produced an equal excitement. 

The General Association of Connecticut refused to countenance 
Whitefield, he was such an innovator. “ Why, he will preach out 
of doors and anywhere!” Awful! What a terrible thing, that 
a man should preach in the fields or in the streets. Cast him out. 

All these were devoted men, seeking out ways to do good 
and save souls. And precisely the same kind of opposition was 
experienced by all, obstructing their path and trying to destroy 
their character and influence. A book , now extant, was written 
in President Edwards’ time, by a doctor of divinity, and signed 
by a multitude of ministers, against Whitefield and Edwards, 
their associates and their measures. A letter was published in 
this city by a minister against Whitefield, which brought up the 
same objections against innovations that we hear now. In the 
time of the late opposition to revivals in the state of New York, 
a copy of this letter was taken to the editor of a religious pe¬ 
riodical with a request that he would publish it. He refused, 
and gave for a reason, that if published, many would apply it to 


242 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


the controversy that is going on now. I mention it merely to 
show how identical is the opposition that is raised in different 
ages against all new measures designed to advance the cause 
of religion. 

6. In the 'present generation , many things have been intro¬ 
duced which have proved useful, but have been opposed on the 
ground that they were innovations. And as many are still un¬ 
settled in regard to them, I have thought it best to make some 
remarks concerning them. There are three things in parti¬ 
cular, which have chiefly attracted remark, and therefore I shall 
speak of them. They are Anxious Meetings, Protracted Meet¬ 
ings, and the Anxious Seat. These are all opposed, and are 
called new measures. 

(1.) Anxious Meetings. The first that I ever heard of under 
that name, was in New England, where they were appointed 
for the purpose of holding personal conversation with anxious 
sinners, and to adapt instruction to the cases of individuals, so 
as to lead them immediately to Christ. The design of them is 
evidently philosophical, but they have been opposed because 
they were new. There are tw r o modes of conducting an anx¬ 
ious meeting, either of which may effect the object of them. 

1. By spending a few moments in personal conversation and 
learning the state of mind of each individual, and then in an 
address to the whole, take up all their errors and remove their 
difficulties together. 

2. By going round to each, and taking up each individual 
case, and going over the whole ground with each one separately, 
and getting them to promise to give up their hearts to God. 
Either way they are important, and have been found most suc¬ 
cessful in practice. But multitudes have objected against them 
because they were new. 

(2.) Protracted Meetings. These are not new, but have 
always been practised, in some form or other, ever since there 
was a church on earth. The Jewish festivals were nothing 
else but protracted meetings. In regard to the manner, they 
were conducted differently from what they are now. But the 
design was the same, to devote a series of days to religious ser¬ 
vices, in order to make a more powerful impression of divine 
things upon the minds of the people. All denominations of 
Christians, when religion prospers among them, hold protracted 
meetings. In Scotland they used to begin on Thursday, at all 
their communion seasons, and continue until after the Sabbath. 
The Episcopalians, Baptists, and Methodists, all hqld protracted 
meetings. Yet now in our day they have been opposed, parti- 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


243 


cularly among Presbyterians, and called new measures, and 
regarded as fraught with all manner of evil, notwithstanding 
they have been so manifestly and so extensively blessed. I will 
suggest a few things that ought to be considered in regard to 
them. 

(a.) In appointing them, regard should be had to the circum¬ 
stances of the people; whether the church are able to give their 
attention and devote their time to carry on the meeting. In so mo 
instances this rule has been neglected. Some have thought it 
right to break in ” >on the necessary business of the community. 
In the country, they would appoint the meeting in harvest time, 
and in the city in the height of the business season, when all 
the men were necessarily occupied and pressed with their tem¬ 
poral labors. In defence of this course it is said that our busi¬ 
ness should always be made to yield to God’s business; that 
eternal things are of so much more importance than temporal 
things, that worldly business of any kind, and at any time , should 
be made to yield and give place to a protracted meeting. But 
the worldly business in which we are engaged is not our busi¬ 
ness. It as much God’s business, and as much our duty, as our 
prayers and protracted meetings are. If we do not consider our 
business in this light, we have not yet taken the first lesson in 
religion; we have not learned to do all things to the glory of 
God. With this view of the subject, separating our business 
from religion, we are living six days for ourselves, and the sev¬ 
enth for God.— Real duties never interfere with each 
other. Week days have their appropriate duties, and the 
Sabbath its appropriate duties, and we are to be equally pious 
on every day in the week, and in the performance of the duties 
of every day. We are to plough, and sow, and sell our goods, 
and attend to our various callings, with the same singleness of 
view to the glory of God, that we go to church on the Sabbath, 
and pray in our families, and read our Bibles. This is a first 
principle in religion. He that does not know and act on this 
principle, has not learned the A B C of piety, as yet. Now 
there are particular seasons of the year, in which God in his 
providence calls upon men to attend to business, because world¬ 
ly business at the time is particularly urgent, and must be done 
at that season, if done at all; seed time and harvest for the far¬ 
mer, and the business seasons for the merchant. And we have 
no right to say, in those particular seasons, that we will quit our 
business and have a protracted meeting. The fact is, the busi¬ 
ness is not ours. And unless God, by some special indication 
of his providence, indicates it to be his pleasure, that we should 


244 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


turn aside and have a protracted meeting at such times , l look 
upon it as tempting God to appoint them. It is saying, “ 0 God, 
this worldly business is our business, and we are willing to lay 
it aside for thy business.” Unless God has indicated it to be his 
pleasure to pour out his Spirit, and revive his work at such a 
season, and has thus culled wpon his people to quit, for the time 
being, their ordinary employments, and attend especially to a 
protracted meeting, it appears to me that God might say to us 
in such circumstances, “ Who hath required this of your hand?” 

God has a right to dispose of our time as he pleases, to re¬ 
quire us to give up any portion of our time, or all our time, to 
duties of instruction and devotion. And when circumstances 
plainly call for it, it is our duty to lay aside every other busi¬ 
ness, and make direct and continuous efforts for the salvation of 
souls. If we transact our business upon right principles, and 
from right motives, and wholly for the glory of God, we shall 
never object to go aside to attend a protracted meeting, whenever 
there appears to be a call for it in the providence of God. A 
man who considers himself a steward or a clerk, does not con 
sider it a hardship to rest from his labors on the Sabbath, but a 
privilege. The selfish owner may feel unwilling to suspend his 
business on the Sabbath. But the clerk , who transacts business 
not for himself but for his employer, considers it a privilege to 
rest upon the Sabbath. So we, if we dc our business for God, 
shall not think it hard if he makes it our duty to suspend our 
worldly business and attend a protracted meeting. We should 
rather consider it in the light of a holiday. Whenever, there¬ 
fore, you hear a man pleading that he cannot leave his business 
to attend a protracted meeting—that it is his duty to attend to 
business, there is reason to fear that he considers the business 
as his own, and the meeting as God’s business. If he felt that 
the business of the store or farm was as much God’s business as 
attending a protracted meeting, he would doubtless be very will¬ 
ing to rest from his worldly toils, and go up to the house of God 
and be refreshed, whenever there was an indication, on the part 
of God, that the community was called to that work. It is 
highly worthy of remark, that the Jewish festivals were appoint¬ 
ed at those seasons of the year, when there was the least pres¬ 
sure of indispensable worldly business. 

In some instances, such meetings have been appointed in the 
very pressure of the business seasons, and have been followed 
with no good results, evidently for the want of attention to the 
rule here laid down. In other cases, meetings have been ap¬ 
pointed in seasons when there was a great pressure of worldly 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


245 


business, and have been signally blessed. Butin those cases 
the blessing followed because th^. meeting was appointed in obe 
dience to the indications of the will of God, by those who had 
spiritual discernment, and understood the signs of the times. 
And m many cases, doubtless, individuals have attended, who 
really supposed themselves to be giving up their own business, 
to attend to God’s business, and in such cases they made what 
they supposed to he a real sacrifice, and God in mercy granted 
them the blessing. 

( b .) Ordinarily a protracted meeting should he conducted 
through, and the labor chiefly performed, by the same minister , 
if possible. Sometimes protracted meetings have been held and 
dependence placed on ministers coming in from day to day. 
And they would have no blessing. And the reason was obvious. 
They did not come in a state of mind to enter into the work, 
and they did not know the state of people’s minds, so as to know 
what to preach. Suppose a person who was sick should call in 
a different physician every day. He would not know what the 
symptoms had been, nor what was the course of the disease or 
of the treatment, nor what remedies had been tried, nor what the 
patient could hear. Why, he would certainly kill the patient. 
Just so in a protracted meeting, carried on by a succession of 
ministers. None of them get into the spirit of it, and generally 
they do more hurt than good. 

A protracted meeting should not, ordinarily, be appointed, un¬ 
less they can secure the right kind of help, and get a minister 
or two who will agree to stay on the ground till the meeting is 
done. Then they will probably secure a rich blessing. 

(c.) There should not be so many public meetings as to inter¬ 
fere with the duties of the closet and of the family. Otherwise 
Christians will lose their spirituality and let go their hold of 
God, and the meeting will run down. 

(d.) Families should not put themselves out so much in enter¬ 
taining strangers, as to neglect prayer and other duties. It is 
often the case that when a protracted meeting is held, some of 
the principal families in the church, I mean those who are prin¬ 
cipally relied on to sustain the meetings, do not get into the 
work at all. And the reason is, that they are encumbered with 
much serving. They often take needless trouble to provide for 
guests who come from a distance to the meeting, and lay them¬ 
selves out very foolishly to make an entertainment, not only 
comfortable but sumptuous. It should always be understood 
that it is the duty of families to have as little working and parade 
as possible, and to get along with their hospitality in the easiest 


246 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


way, so that they may all have time to pray, and go to the 
meeting, and to attend to the things of the kingdom. 

(e.) By all means guard against unnecessarily keeping late 
hours. If people keep late hours, night after night, they will 
inevitably wear out the body, and their health will fan, and 
there will he a reaction. They sometimes allow themselves to 
get so excited as to lose their sleep, and become irregular in 
their meals, till they break down, and a reaction must come. 
Unless there is the greatest pains taken to keep regular, the ex¬ 
citement will get so great, that nature will give way, and they 
run down, and the work stops. 

(/) All sectarianism should be carefully avoided. If a secta¬ 
rian spirit breaks out, either in the preaching, or praying, or 
conversation, it will counteract all the good of the meeting. 

(g.) Be watchful against placing dependence on a protracted 
meeting, as if that of itself would produce a revival. This is 
a point of great danger, and has always been so. This is the 
great reason why the church in successive generations has al¬ 
ways had to give up her measures—because Christians had 
come to rely on them for success. So it has been in some places, 
in regard to Protracted Meetings. They have been so blessed, 
that in some places the people have thought that if they should 
only have a protracted meeting, they would have a blessing, 
and sinners would be converted of course. And so they have 
appointed their meeting, without any preparation in the church, 
and just sent abroad for some minister of note and set him to 
preaching, as if that would convert sinners. It is obvious that 
the blessing would be withheld from a meeting got up in this 
way. 

(h.) Avoid adopting the idea that a revival cannot be enjoyed 
without a Protracted Meeting. Some churches have got into 
a morbid state of feeling on this subject. Their zeal has be¬ 
come all spasmodic, and feverish, so that they never think of 
doing anything to promote a revival, only in that way. When 
a protracted meeting is held, they will seem to be wonderfully 
zealous, and then sink down to a torpid state till another pro¬ 
tracted meeting produces another spasm. And now multitudes 
in the church think it is necessary to give up protracted meet¬ 
ings because they are abused in this way. This ought to be 
guarded against, in every church, so that they may not be 
driven to give them up, and lose all the benefits that protracted 
meetings are calculated to produce. 

(3.) The Anxious Seat. 

By ihis I mean the appointment of some particular seat in 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


247 


the place of meeting, where the anxious may come and be ad¬ 
dressed particularly, and be made subjects of prayer, and some¬ 
times conversed with individually. Of late this measure has 
met with more opposition than any of the others. What is the 
great objection ?• I cannot see it. The design of the anxious 
seat is undoubtedly philosophical, and according to the laws of 
mind. It has two bearings: 

1. When a person is seriously troubled in mind, every body 
knows that there is a powerful tendency to try to keep it private 
that he is so, and it is a great thing to get the individual willing 
to have the fact known to others. And as soon, as you can get 
him willing to make known his feelings, you have accomplish¬ 
ed a great deal. When a person is borne down with a sense 
of his condition, if you can get him willing to have it known, it 
you can get him to break away from the chains of pride, you have 
gained an important point towards his conversion. This is agree¬ 
able to the philosophy of the human mind. How many thou¬ 
sands are there who will bless God to eternity, that when pressed. 
by the truth they were ever brought to take this step, by which 
they threw off the idea that it was a dreadful thing to have any 
body know that they were serious about their souls. 

2. Another bearing of the anxious seat, is to detect deception 
and delusion, and thus prevent false hopes. It has been opposed 
on this ground, that it was calculated to create delusion and false 
hopes. But this objection is unreasonable. The truth is the 
other way. Suppose I were preaching on the subject of Tem¬ 
perance, and that I should first show the evils of intemperance, 
and bring up the drunkard and his family, and show the va¬ 
rious evils produced, till every heart is beating with emotion. 
Then I portray the great danger of moderate drinking ,■ and 
show how it leads to intoxication and ruin, and that there is no 
safety but in TOTAL ABSTINENCE, till a hundred hearts 
are ready to say, “ I will never drink another drop of ardent 
spirit in the world; if I do, I shall expect to find a drunkard’s 
grave.” Now I stop short, and let the pledge be circulated, and 
every one that is fully resolved, is ready to sign it. But how 
many will begin to draw back and hesitate, when you begin to 
call on them to sign a pledge of total abstinence. One says to 
himself, “ Shall I sign it, or not? I thought my mind was made 
up, but this signing a pledge never to drink again, I do not know 
about that.” Thus you see that when a person is called upon 
to give a pledge, if he is found not to be decided, he makes it 
manifest that he was not sincere. That is, he never came to 
that resolution on the subject, which could be relied on to con- 


248 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


trol his future life. Just so with the awakened sinner. Preach to 
him, and at the moment he thinks he is willing to do any thing, 
he thinks he is determined to serve the Lord, but bring him to 
the test, call on him to do one thing, to take one step, that shall 
identify him with the people of God, or cross his pride—his 
pride comes up, and he refuses; his delusion is brought out, and 
lie finds himself a lost sinner still; whereas, if you had not done 
it, he might have gone away flattering himself that he was a 
Christian. If you say to him, “ There is the anxious seat, come 
out and avow your determination to be on the Lord’s side,” and 
if he is not willing to do so small a thing as that, then he is not 
willing to do any thing , and there he is, brought out before his 
own conscience. It uncovers the delusion of the human heart, 
and prevents a great many spurious conversions, by showing 
those who might otherwise imagine themselves willing to do 
any thing for Christ, that in fact they are willing to do nothing. 

The church has always felt it necessary to have something 
of the kind to answer this very purpose. In the days of the 
apostles baptism answered this purpose. The gospel was 
preached to the people, and then all those who were willing to 
be on the side of Christ were called on to be baptized. It held 
the precise place that the anxious seat does now, as a public 
manifestation of their determination to be Christians. And in 
modern times, those who have been violently opposed to the 
anxious seat, have been obliged to adopt some substitute, or they 
could not get along in promoting a revival. Some have adopted 
the expedient of inviting the people who were anxious for their 
souls, to stay for conversation after the rest of the congregation 
had retired. But what is the difference? This is as much 
setting up a test as the other. Others, who would be much 
ashamed to employ the anxious seat, have asked those who have 
any feeling on the subject, to sit still in their seats when the rest 
retire. Others have called the anxious to retire into the lecture 
room. The object of all these is the same, and the principle is 
the same, to bring people out from the refuge of false shame. 
One man I heard of, who was very far gone in his opposition to 
new measures, in one of his meetings requested all those who 
were willing to submit to God, or desired to be made subjects 
of prayer, to signify it by leaning forward and putting their 
heads down upon the pew before them. Who does not see that 
this was a mere evasion of the anxious seat, and that it was de¬ 
signed to answer the purpose in its place, and he adopted this 
because he felt that something of the kind was important? 

Now what objection is there against taking a particular seat, 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


249 


or rising- up, or going into the lecture-room? They all mean 
the same thing, when properly conducted. And they are not 
novelties in principle at all. The thing has always been done 
in substance. In Joshua’s day, he called on the people to de¬ 
cide what they would do, and they spoke right out, in the meet¬ 
ing, “ We will serve the Lord j the Lord our God will we 
serve, and his voice will we obey.” 

REMARKS. 

1. If we examine the history of the church we shall find that 
there never has been an extensive reformation, except by new 
measures. Whenever the churches get settled down into a. form 
of doing things, they soon get to rely upon the outward doing 
of it, and so retain the form of religion while they lose the sub¬ 
stance. And then it has always been found impossible to arouse 
them so as to bring about a reformation of the evils, and produce 
a revival of religion, by simply pursuing that established form. 
Perhaps it is not too much to say, that it is impossible for God 
himself to bring about reformations but by new measures. At 
least, it is a fact that God has always chosen this way, as the 
wisest and best that he could devise or adopt. And although it 
has always been the case, that the very measures which God 
has chosen to employ, and which he has blessed in reviving his 
work, have been opposed as new measures, and have been de¬ 
nounced, yet he has continued to act upon the same principle. 
When he has found that a certain mode has lost its influence by 
having become a form, he brings up some new measure, which 
will BREAK IN upon their lazy habits, and WAKE UP a 
slumbering church. And great good has resulted. 

2. The same distinctions, in substance, that now exist, have 
always existed, in all seasons of reformation and revival of re¬ 
ligion. There have always been those who particularly adhered 
to their forms and notions, and precise way of doing things, as 
if they had a “ Thus saith the Lord” for every one of them. 
They have called those that differed from them, who were try¬ 
ing to roll the ark of salvation forward, Methodists, New Lights, 
Radicals, New School, New Divinity, and various other oppro¬ 
brious names. And the declensions that have followed have been 
uniformly owing to two causes, which should be by no means 
overlooked by the church. 

(1.) The Old School, or Old Measure party, have persevered 
in their opposition, and eagerly seized hold of any real or appa¬ 
rent indiscretion in the friends of the work. 

In such cases, the churches have gradually lost their confi- 


250 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


dence in the opposition to new measures, and the cry of “ New 
Divinity,” and “ Innovation” has ceased to alarm them. They 
see that the blessing of God is with those that are thus accused 
of new measures and innovation, and the continued opposition 
of the Old School, together with the continued success of the 
New School, have destroyed their confidence in the opposition, 
and they get tired of hearing the incessant cry of “ New Lights,” 
and “ New Divinity,” and “ New Measures.” Thus the scale 
has turned, and the churches have pronounced a verdict in favor 
of the New School, and of condemnation against the Old School. 

(2.) But now, mark me: right here in this state of things, 
the devil has, again and again, taken the advantage, and indi¬ 
viduals have risen up, and being sustained by the confidence of 
the churches in the New Measure party, and finding them sick 
of opposition, and ready to do any thing that would promote the 
interests of Christ’s kingdom, they have driven headlong them¬ 
selves, and in many instances have carried the churches into the 
very vortex of those difficulties, which have been predicted by 
their opposers, Thus, when the battle had been fought, and 
the victory gained, the rash zeal of some well-meaning but 
headlong individuals, has brought about a reaction, that has 
spread a pall over the churches for years. This was the case, 
as is well known, in the days of President Edwards. Here is 
a rock, upon which a light-house is now built, and upon which 
if the church now run aground, both parties are entirely without 
excuse. It is now well known, or ought to be known, that the 
declension which followed the revivals in those days, together 
with the declensions which have repeatedly occurred, were 
owing to the combined influence of the continued and pertina¬ 
cious opposition of the Old School, and the ultimate bad spirit 
and recklessness of some individuals of the New School. 

And here the note of alarm should be distinctly sounded to 
both parties, lest the devil should prevail against us, at the very 
point, and under the very circumstances, where he has so often 
prevailed. Shall the church never learn wisdom from experi¬ 
ence ? How often, O, how often must these scenes be acted over, 
before the millenium shall come! When will it once be, that 
the church may be revived, and religion prevail, without excit¬ 
ing such opposition in the church , as eventually to bring about 
a reaction ? 

3. The present cry against new measures is highly ridicu¬ 
lous, when we consider the quarter from which it comes, and 
all the circumstances in the case. It is truly astonishing that 
grave ministers should really feel alarmed at the new measures 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


251 


of the present day, as if new measures were something new 
under the sun, and as if the present form and manner of doing 
things had descended from the apostles, and were established by 
a “ Thus saith the Lordwhen the truth is, that every step ot 
the church’s advance from the gross darkness of Popery, has 
been through the introduction of one new measure after another. 
We now look with astonishment, and are inclined to look almost 
with contempt, upon the cry of “ Innovation,” that has preceded 
our day; and as we review the fears that multitudes in the 
church have entertained in by-gone days, with respect to inno¬ 
vation, we find it difficult to account for what appear to us the 
groundless and absurd, at least, if not ridiculous objections and 
difficulties which they made. But, my hearers, is it not won¬ 
derful, that at this late day, after the church has had so much 
experience in these matters, that grave and pious men should 
seriously feel alarmed at the introduction of the simple, the 
philosophical, and greatly prospered measures of the last ten 
years ? As if new measures were something not to be tole¬ 
rated, of highly disastrous tendency, and that should wake the 
notes and echoes of alarm in every nook and corner of the church. 

4. We see why it is that those who have been making the 
ado about new measures have not been successful in promoting 
revivals. 

They have been taken up with the evils , real or imaginary, 
which have attended this great and blessed work of God. That 
there have been evils, no one will pretend to deny. But I do be¬ 
lieve, that no revival ever existed since the world began, of so 
great power and extent as the one that has prevailed for the last 
ten years, which has not been attended with as great or greater 
evils. Still, a large portion of the church have been frighten¬ 
ing themselves and others, by giving constant attention to the 
evils of revivals. One of the professors in a Presbyterian Theo¬ 
logical Seminary, felt it his duty to write a series of letters to 
Presbyterians, which were extensively circulated, the object of 
which seemed to be to sound the note of alarm throughout all 
the borders of the church, in regard to the evils attending re¬ 
vivals. While men are taken up with* the evils instead of the 
excellences of a blessed work of God, how can it be expected 
that they will be useful in promoting it? I would say all this 
in great kindness, but still it is a point upon which I must not 
be silent. 

5. Without new measures it is impossible that the church 
should succeed in gaining the attention of the world to religion 
There are so many exciting subjects constantly brought befor© 


252 MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 

the public mind, such a running to and fro, so many that cry 
“ Lo here,” and “ Lo there,” that the church cannot maintain 
her ground, cannot command attention, without very exciting 
preaching, and sufficient novelty in measures, to get the public 
ear. The measures of politicians, of infidels and heretics, the 
scrambling after wealth, the increase of luxury, and the ten 
thousand exciting and counteracting influences, that bear upon 
the church and upon the world, will gain their attention and 
turn all men away from the sanctuary and from the altars of the 
Lord, unless we increase in wisdom and piety, and wisely adopt 
such new measures as are calculated to get the attention, of men 
to the gospel of Christ. I have already said, in the course of 
these lectures, that novelties should be introduced no faster than 
they are really called for. They should be introduced with 
the greatest wisdom, and caution, and prayerfulness, and in a 
manner calculated to excite as little opposition as possible. But 
new measures we must have. And may God prevent the church 
from settling down in any set of forms, and getting the present 
or any other edition of her measures stereotyped. 

6. It is evident that we must have more exciting preaching, 
to meet the character and wants of the age. Ministers are 
generally beginning to find this out. And some of them com¬ 
plain of it, and suppose it to be owing to new measures, as they 
call them. They say that such ministers as our fathers would 
have been glad to hear, now cannot be heard, cannot get a 
settlement, nor collect an audience. And they think that new 
measures have perverted the taste of the people. But this is 
not the difficulty. The character of the age is changed, and 
these men have not conformed to it, but retain the same stiff, 
dry, prosing style of preaching that answered half a century ago. 

Look at the Methodists. Many of their ministers are 
unlearned, in the common sense of the term, many of them 
taken right from the shop or the farm, and yet they have 
gathered congregations, and pushed their way, and won souls 
every where. Wherever the Methodists have gone, their 
plain, pointed and simple, but warm and animated mode of 
preaching has always* gathered congregations. Few Pres¬ 
byterian ministers have gathered so large assemblies, or won 
so many souls. Now are we to be told that we must pursue 
the same old, formal mode of doing things, amidst all these 
changes? As well might the North River be rolled back, 
as the world converted under such preaching. Those who 
adopt a different style of preaching, as the Methodists have 
done, will run away from us. The world will escape from 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


253 


under the influence of this old fashioned or rather new fashioned 
ministry. It is impossible that the public mind should be held 
by such preaching. We must have exciting, powerful preach¬ 
ing, or the devil will have the people, except what the Methodists 
can save. It is impossible that our ministers should continue 
to do good, unless we have innovations in regard to the style of 
preaching. Many ministers are finding it out already, that a 
Methodist preacher, without the advantages of a liberal educa¬ 
tion, will draw a congregation around him which a Presby¬ 
terian minister, with perhaps ten timds as much learning, cannot 
equal, because he has not the earnest manner of the other, and 
does not pour out fire upon his hearers when he preaches. 

7. We see the importance of having young ministers obtain 
right views of revivals. In a multitude of cases, I have seen 
that great pains are taken to frighten our young men, who are 
preparing for the ministry, about the evils of revivals, new mea¬ 
sures, and the like. Young men in some theological semi¬ 
naries are taught to look upon new measures as if they were 
the very inventions of the devil. How can such men have 
revivals. So when they come out, they look about, and watch, 
and start, as if the devil was there. Some young men in 
Princeton, a few years ago, came out with an essay upon the 
“ evils of revivals.” I should like to know, now, how many of 
those young men have enjoyed revivals among their people, 
since they have been in the ministry; and if any have, I should 
like to know whether they have not repented of that piece about 
the evils of revivals. 

If I had a voice so loud as to be heard at Princeton, I would 
speak to those young men on this subjeet. It is high time to 
talk plainly on this point. The church is groaning in all her 
borders for the want of suitable ministers. Good men are labor¬ 
ing and are willing to labor night and day to assist in educa¬ 
ting young men for the ministry, to promote revivals of religion; 
and when they come out of the seminary, some of them are as 
shy of all the measures that God blesses as they are of popery 
itself. 

Shall it be so always? Must we educate young men for the 
ministry, and have them come out frightened to death about 
new measures, as if there had never been any such thing as new 
measures. They ought to know that new measures are no new 
thing in the church. Let them GO ALONG, and keep at 
work themselves, and not be frightened about new measures. 
I have been pained to see that some men, in giving accounts 
of revivals, have evidently felt themselves obliged to be particu- 

22 


254 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


lar in detailing the measures used, to avoid the inference that 
new measures were introduced; evidently feeling that even the 
church would undervalue the revival unless it appeared to have 
been promoted without new measures. Besides, this caution in 
detailing the measures to demonstrate that there was nothing 
new , looks like admitting that new measures are wrong because 
they are new, and that a revival is more valuable because it was 
not promoted by new measures. In this way, I apprehend that 
much evil has been done, already, and if the practice is to con¬ 
tinue, it must come to this, that a revival must be judged of, by 
the fact that it occurred in connexion with new or old measures. 
I never will countenance such a spirit, nor condescend to guard 
an account of a revival against the imputation of new or old 
measures. I believe new measures are right, that is, that it is 
no objection to a measure that it is new or old. 

Let a minister enter fully into his work, and pour out his 
heart to God for a blessing, and whenever he sees the want of 
any measure to bring the truth more powerfully before the minds 
of the people, let him adopt it and not be afraid, and God will 
not withhold his blessing. If ministers will not go forward, and 
will not preach the gospel with power and earnestness, and will 
not turn out of their tracks to do any thing new for the purpose 
of saving souls, they will grieve the Holy Spirit away, and God 
will visit them with his curse, and raise up other ministers to do 
work in the world. 

8. It is the right and duty of ministers to adopt new meas¬ 
ures for promoting revivals. In some places the church have 
opposed their minister when he has attempted to employ those 
measures which God has blessed for a revival, and have gone 
so far as to give up their prayer meetings, and give up laboring 
to save souls, and stand aloof from every thing, because their min¬ 
ister has adopted what they cajl new measures. No matter how 
reasonable the measures are in themselves, nor how seasonable, 
nor how much God may bless them. It is enough that they are 
called new measures, and they will not have any thing to do 
with new measures, nor tolerate them among the people. And 
thus they fall out by the way, and grieve away the Spirit of God, 
and put a stop to the revival, when the world around them is 
going to hell. 

Finally. —This zealous adherence to particular forms and 
modes of doing things, which has led the church to resist inno¬ 
vations in measures , savors strongly of fanaticism. And what 
is not a little singular, is that fanatics of this stamp ar 4 e alwmys 
the first to cry out “ fanaticism.” What is that but fanaticism 


MEASURES TO PROMOTE REVIVALS. 


255 


in the Roman Catholic Church, that causes them to adhere with 
such pertinacity to their particular modes, and forms, and cere¬ 
monies, and fooleries ? They act as if all these things were es¬ 
tablished by divine authority; as if there were a “ Thus saith 
the Lord” for every one of them. Now we justly style this a 
spirit of fanaticism, and esteem it worthy of rebuke. But it is 
just as absolutely fanatical, for the Presbyterian church, or any 
other church, to be sticklish for her particular forms, and to act 
as if they were established by divine authority. The fact is, 
that God has established, in no church, any particular form , or 
manner of worship, for promoting the interests of religion. The 
scriptures are entirely silent on these subjects, under the gospel 
dispensation, and the church is left to exercise her own discre¬ 
tion in relation to all such matters. And I hope it will not be 
thought unkind, when I say again, that to me it appears, that 
the unkind, angry zeal for a certain mode and manner of doing 
things, and the overbearing, exterminating cry against new mea¬ 
sures, SAVORS STRONGLY OF FANATICISM. 

The only thing insisted upon under the gospel dispensation, 
in regard to measures, is that there should be decency and order. 
“ Let all things be done decently and in order.” We are requir¬ 
ed to guard against all confusion and disorderly conduct. But 
what is decency and order? Will it be pretended that an anx¬ 
ious meeting, or a protracted meeting, or an anxious seat, is in¬ 
consistent with decency and order? I should most sincerely 
deprecate, and most firmly resist whatever was indecent and dis¬ 
orderly in the worship of God’s house. But I do not suppose 
that by “ order” we are to understand any particular set mode, 
in which any church may have been accustomed to perform 
their service. 


LEC7 URE XV. 


HINDERANfiES TO REVIVALS. 

Text.— “Iam doing a great work so that I cannot comedown. Why 
should the work cease, whilst I let* ji/., -nd come down to you.”— Nehemiah 
vi. 3. 

This servant of God had come down from Babylon to re¬ 
build the temple and re-establish the worship of God at Jerusa¬ 
lem, the city of his fathers’ sepulchres. When it was discov¬ 
ered by Sanballat and certain individuals, his allies, who had 
long enjoyed the desolations of Zion, that now the temple, and 
the holy city were about to be rebuilt, they raised a great oppo¬ 
sition. Sanballat and the other leaders tried in several ways to 
divert Nehemiah and his friends, and prevent them from going 
forward in their work ; at one time they threatened them, and 
then complained that they were going to rebel against the king. 
Again, they insisted that their design was not pious but politi¬ 
cal, to which Nehemiah replied by a simple and prompt denial, 
“ There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feign- 
est them out of thine own heart.” Finally, Sanballat sent a 
message to Nehemiah, requesting him to meet in the plain of 
Ono, to discuss the whole matter amicably and have the diffi¬ 
culty adjusted, but designed to do him mischief. They had found 
that they could not frighten Nehemiah, and now they wanted to 
come round him by artifice and fraud, and draw him off from 
the vigorous prosecution of his work. But he replied, “ I am 
doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should 
the work cease, whilst I come down to you ?” 

It has always been the case, whenever any of the servants of 
God do any thing in his cause, and there appears to be a 'proba¬ 
bility that they will succeed, that Satan by his agents regularly 
attempts to divert their minds and nullify their labors. So it has 
been during the last ten years, in which there have been such^ 
remarkable revivals through the length and breadth of the land/ 
These revivals have been very great and powerful, and exten¬ 
sive. It has been estimated that not less than two hundred 
thousand persons have been converted to God in that time. 

And the devil has been busy in his devices to divert and dis¬ 
tract the people of God, and turn off their energies from push" 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


257 


ing forward the great work of salvation. In remarking on the 
subject, l propose to show, 

I. That a Revival of Religion is a great work. 

II. To mention several things which may put a stop to it. 

III. Endeavor to show what must be done for the continuance 
of this great revival. 

I. I am to show that a Revival of Religion is a great work. 

It is a great work, because in it are great interests involved. 

In a Revival of Religion are involved both the glory of God, so 
far as it respects the government of this world, and the salvation 
of men. Two things that are of infinite importance are involved 
in it. The greatness of a work is to be estimated by the great¬ 
ness of the consequences depending on it. And this is the 
measure of its importance. 

II. I am to mention several things which may put a stop to a 
revival. 

Some have talked very foolishly on this subject, as if nothing 
could injure a genuine revival. They say, “ If your revival is 
a work of God, it cannot be stopped ; can any created being stop 
God?” Now I ask if this is common sense? Formerly, it 
used to be the established belief that a revival could not be stop¬ 
ped, because it was the work of God. And so they supposed it 
would go on, whatever might be done to hinder it, in the church 
or out of it. But the farmer might just as well reason so, and 
think he could go and cut down his wheat and not hurt the crop, 
because it is God that makes grain grow. A revival is the 
work of God, and so is a crop of wheat; and God is as much de¬ 
pendent on the use of means in one case as the other. And 
therefore a revival is as liable to be injured as a wheat field. 

1. A revival will stop whenever the church believe it is going 
to cease. The church are the instruments with which Goa 
carries on this work, and they are to work in it voluntarily and 
with their hearts. Nothing is more fatal to a revival than for 
its friends to predict that it is going to stop. No matter what 
the enemies of the work may say about it, predicting that it will 
all run out and come to nothing, and the like. They cannot 
stop it in this way. But the friends must labor and pray in faith 
to carry it on. It is a contradiction to say they are laboring and 
praying in faith to carry on the work, and yet believe that it is 
going to stop. If they'lose their faith, it will stop, of course. 
Whenever the friends of revivals begin to prophecy that the re¬ 
vival is going to stop, they should be instantly rebuked, in the 
name of the Lord. If the idea once begins to prevail, and if 
you cannot counteract it and root it out, the revival will infalli- 

22 * 


258 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS 


bly cease; for it is indispensable to the work, that Christiana 
should labor and pray in faith to promote it, and it is a contra¬ 
diction to say that they can labor in faith for its continuance, 
while they believe that it is about to cease. 

2. A revival will cease when Christians consent that it should 
tease. Sometimes Christians see that the revival is in danger 
of ceasing, and that if something effectual is not done, it will 
come to a stand. If this fact distresses them, and drives them 
to prayer, and to fresh efforts, the work will not cease. When 
Christians love the work of God, and the salvation of souls so 
well that they are distressed at the mere apprehension of a 
decline, it will drive them to an agony of prayer and effort. If 
it does not drive them to agony and effort to prevent its ceasing, 
if they see the danger, and do not try to avert it, or to renew the 
work, they consent that it should stop. There are at 
this time many people, all over the country, who see revivals 
declining, and that they are in great danger of ceasing altogether, 
and yet they manifest but little distress, and seem to care but 
little about it. Whole churches see their condition, and see 
what is coming unless there can be a waking up, and yet they 
are at ease, and do not groan and agonize in prayer, that God 
would revive his work.. Some are even predicting that there 
is now going to be a great reaction, and a great dearth come 
over the church, as there did after Whitefield’s and Edwards’ 
day. And yet they are not startled at their own forebodings; 
they are cool about it, and turn directly off to other things. 
THEY CONSENT TO IT. It seems as if they were the 
devil’s trumpeters, sent out to scatter dismay throughout the 
ranks of God’s elect. 

3. A revival will cease whenever Christians become mechani¬ 
cal in their attempts to promote it. When their faith is strong, 
and their hearts are warm and mellow, and their prayers full 
of holy emotion, and their words with power, then the work 
goes on. But when their prayers begin to be cold and without 
emotion, and their deep-toned feeling is gone, and they begin 
to labor mechanically, and to use words without feeling, then 
the revival will cease. 

4. The revival will cease, whenever Christians get the idea 
that the work will go on without their aid. The church are co- 
workers with God in promoting a revival, and the work can 
be carried on just as far as the church will carry it on, and no 
farther. God has been for one thousand eight hundred years 
trying to get the church into the work. He has been calling 
and urging, commanding, entreating, pressing and encouraging, 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


259 


to get them to take hold. He has stood all this while ready to 
make bare his arm to carry on the work with them. But the 
church have been unwilling to do their part. They seem de¬ 
termined to leave it to God alone to convert the world, and say, 
“ ^ he wants the world converted, let him do it.” They ought 
to know that this is impossible. So far as we know, neither 
God nor man can convert the world without the co-operation 
of the church. Sinners cannot be converted without their own 
agency, for conversion consists in their voluntary turning to 
God. No more can sinners be converted without the appro¬ 
priate moral influences to turn them; that is, without truth and 
the reality of things brought full before their minds either 
by direct revelation or by men. God cannot convert the world 
by physical omnipotence, but he is dependent on the moral 
influence of the church. 

5. The work will cease when the church prefer to attend to 
their own concerns rather than God’s business. I do not admit 
that men have any business which is properly their own , but 
they think so, and in fact prefer what they consider as their 
own, rather than to work for God. They begin to think they 
cannot afford sufficient time from their worldly employments, 
to carry on a revival. And they pretend they are obliged to 
give up attending to religion, and let their hearts go out again 
after the world. And the work must cease, of course. 

6. When Christians get proud of their great revival, it will 
cease. I mean those Christians who have before been instru¬ 
mental in promoting it. It is almost always the case in a revi¬ 
val, that a part of the church are too proud or too worldly to 
take any part in the work. They are determined to stand aloof, 
and wait, and see what it will come to, and see how it will come 
out. The pride of this part of the church cannot stop the revi 
val, for the revival never rested on them. It begun without 
them, and it can go on without them. They may fold their 
arms and do nothing but look on and find fault; and still the 
work may go on. But when that part of the church who work , 
begin to think what a great revival they have had, and how 
they have labored and prayed, and how bold and how zealous 
they have been, and how much good they have done, then the 
work will be likely to decline. Perhaps it has been published 
in the papers, what a revival there has been in that church, and 
how much engaged the members have been, and they think how 
high they shall stand in the estimation of other churches, all 
over the land, because they have had such a great revival And 
so they get puffed up, and vain, and then they can no longer 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


260 

enjoy the presence of God, and the Spirit withdraws from them, 
and the revival ceases. 

7. The revival will stop when the church gets exhausted by 
labor. Multitudes of Christians commit a great mistake here 
in time of revival. They are so thoughtless, and have so little 
judgment, that they will break up all their habits of living, 
neglect to eat and sleep at the proper hours, and let the excite¬ 
ment run away with them, so that they overdo their bodies, and 
are so imprudent that they soon become exhausted, and it is 
impossible for them to continue in the work. Revivals often 
cease, and declension follows, from negligence and imprudence, 
in this respect, on the part of those engaged in carrying them on. 

8. A revival will cease when the church begins to speculate 
about abstract doctrines , which have nothing to do with prac¬ 
tice. If the church turns off its attention from the things of 
salvation, and go to studying or disputing about abstract points, 
the revival will cease, of course. 

9. When Christians begin to proselyte. When the Baptists 
are so opposed to the Presbyterians, or the Presbyterians to the 
Baptists, or both against the Methodists, or Episcopalians 
against the rest, that they begin to make efforts to get the con¬ 
verts to join their church, you soon see the last of the revival. 
Perhaps a revival will go on for a time, and all sectarian diffi¬ 
culties are banished, till somebody circulates a book, privately, 
to gain proselytes. Perhaps some over-zealous deacon, or some 
mischief-making woman, or some proselyting minister, can’t 
keep still any longer, and begins to work the work of the devil, 
by attempting to gain proselytes, and so stirs up bitterness, and 
raising a selfish strife, grieves away the Spirit, and drives 
Christians all into parties. No more revival there. 

10. When Christians refuse to render to the Lord according 
to the benefits received. This is a fruitful source of religious 
declensions. God has opened the windows of heaven to a 
church, and poured them out a blessing, and then he reasonably 
expects them to bring in the tithes into his store house, and 
devise and execute liberal things for Zion; and lo ! they have 
refused; they have not laid themselves out accordingly to pro¬ 
mote the cause of Christ, and so the Spirit has been grieved and 
the blessing withdrawn, and in some instances a great reaction 
has taken place,' because the church would not be liberal, when 
God has been so bountiful. I have known churches who were 
evidently cursed with barrenness for such a course. They had 
a glorious revival, and afterwards perhaps their meeting-house 
needed repairing, or something else was needed which would 


hinderances to revivals. 


261 


cost a little money, and they refused to do it, and so for their 
niggardly spirit God gave them up. 

11. When the church, in any way, grieve the Holy Spirit. 

(1.) When they do not feel their dependence on the Spirit. 
Whenever Christians get strong in their own strength, God 
curses their blessings. In many instances, Christians sin 
against their own mercies, because they get lifted up with their 
success, and take the credit to themselves, and do not give to 
God all the glory. As he says, “ If ye will not hear, and if ye 
will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the 
Lord of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and, I will curse 
your blessings : yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do 
not lay it to heart.” There has been a great deal of this in this 
country, indoubtedly. I have seen many things that looked like 
it, in the papers, where there seemed a disposition in men to 
take credit for success in promoting revivals. There is doubt¬ 
less a great temptation to this, and it requires the utmost watch¬ 
fulness, on the part of ministers and churches, to guard against 
it, and not grieve the Spirit away by vain-glorying in men. 

(2.) The Spirit may be grieved by a spirit of boasting of the 
revival. Sometimes, as soon as a revival commences, you will 
see it blazed out in the newspapers. And most commonly this 
will kill the revival. There was a case in a neighboring state, 
where a revival commenced, and instantly there came out a 
letter from the pastor, telling that he had a revival. I saw 
the letter and said to myself, That is the last we shall hear of 
this revival. And so it was. In a few days, the work totally- 
ceased. And such things are not uncommon. I could mention 
cases and places, where persons have published such things as 
to puff up the church, and make them so proud that little or 
nothing more could be done for the revival. 

Some, under pretence of publishing things to the praise and 
glory of God, have published things that savored so strongly of 
a disposition to exalt themselves, have made their own agency 
to stand out so conspicuously, as was evidently calculated to 
make an unhappy impression. At the protracted meeting held 
in this church, a year ago last fall, there were five hundred 
hopefully converted, whose names and places of residence we 
knew. A considerable number of them joined this church. 
Many of them united with other churches. Nothing was said 
of this in the papers. I have several times been asked why we 
were so silent upon the subject. I could only reply, that there 
was such a tendency to self-exaltation in the churches, that I 
was afraid to publish any thing on the subject. Perhaps I 


262 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


erred. But I have so often seen mischief done by premature 
publications, that I thought it best to say nothing about it. In 
the revival in this city, four years ago, so much was said in the 
papers, that appeared like self-exaltation, that I was afraid to 
publish. I am not speaking against the 'practice, itself of pub¬ 
lishing accounts of revivals. But the manner of doing it is of 
vast importance. If it is done so as to excite vanity, it is always 
fatal to the revival. 

(3.) So the Spirit is grieved by saying or publishing things 
that are calculated to undervalue the uwrk of God. When a 
blessed work of God is spoken lightly of, not rendering to God 
the glory due to his name, the spirit is grieved. If anything is 
said about a revival, give only the plain and naked facts just as 
they are, and let them pass for what they are worth. 

12. A revival maybe expected to cease, when Christians lose 
the spirit of brotherly love. Jesus Christ will not continue with 
people in a revival any longer than they continue in the exer¬ 
cise of brotherly love. When Christians are in the spirit of a 
revival, they feel this love, and then you will hear them call 
each other brother and sister, very affectionately. But when 
they begin to get cold, they loSe this warmth and glow of affec¬ 
tion for one another, and then this calling brother and sister will 
seem silly and contemptible and they will leave it off In some 
churches they never call each other so, but where there is a re¬ 
vival, Christians naturally do it. I never saw a revival, and 
probably there never was one, in which they did not do it. But 
as soon as this begins to cease, the Spirit of God is grieved, and 
departs from among them. 

13. A revival will decline and cease, unless Christians are 
frequently re-converted. By this I mean, that Christians, in order 
to keep in the spirit of a revival, commonly need to be frequent¬ 
ly convicted, and humbled, and broken down before God, and , 
re-converted. This is something which many do not understand, 
when we talk about a Christian’s being re-converted. But the 
fact is that in a revival the Christian’s heart is liable to get 
crusted over, and lose its exquisite relish for divine things; his * 
unction and prevalence in prayer abates, and then he must be 
converted over again. It is impossible to keep him in such a 
state as not to do injury to the work, unless he pass through 
such a process every few days. I have never labored in revi¬ 
vals in company with any one who would keep in the work and 
be fit to manage a revival continually, who did not pass through 
this process of breaking down as often as once in two or three 
weeks. Revivals decline, commonly, because it is found impos- 




HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


263 


sible to make the church feel their guilt and their dependence, 
so as to break down before God. It is important that ministers 
should understand this, and learn how to break down the church, 
and break down themselves when they need it, or else Chris¬ 
tians will soon become mechanical in their work, and lose their 
fervor and their power of prevailing with God. This was the 
process through which Peter passed, when he had denied the 
Savior, and by which breaking down, the Lord prepared him 
for the great work on the day of Pentecost. I was surprised, 
a few years since, to find that the phrase “ breaking down ” was 
a stumbling block to certain ministers and professors of religion. 
They laid themselves open to the rebuke administered to Nico- 
demus, “Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these 
things?” I am confident that until some of them know what it 
is to be “ broken down,” they will never do much more for the 
cause of revivals. 

14. A revival cannot continue when Christians will not prac¬ 
tice self-denial. When the church have enjoyed a revival and 
begin to grow fat upon it, and run into self-indulgence, the revi¬ 
val will soon cease. Unless they sympathize with the Son of 
God, who gave up all to save sinners; unless they are willing to 
give up their luxuries, and their ease, and lay themselves out in 
the work, they need not expect the Spirit of God will be poured 
out upon them. This is undoubtedly one of the principal causes 
of personal declension. Let Christians in a revival BEWARE, 
when they first find an inclination creeping upon them, to shrink 
from self-denial, and to give into one self-indulgence after ano¬ 
ther. It is the device of Satan, to bait them off from the work 
of God, and make them dull and gross, and lazy, and fearful, 
and useless, and sensual, and drive away the Spirit and destroy 
the revival. 

15. A revival will be stopped by controversies about new 
measures. Nothing is more certain to overthrow a revival than 
this. But as my last lecture was on the subject of new mea¬ 
sures, I need not dwell longer on the subject now. 

16. Revivals can be put down by the continued opposition of 
the Old School , combined with a bad spirit in the New School. 
If those who do nothing to promote revivals continue their oppo¬ 
sition, and if those who are laboring to promote them allow 
themselves to get impatient, and get into a bad spirit, the revi¬ 
val will cease. When the Old School write their letters in the 
newspapers, against revivals or revival men, and the New 
School write letters back again, against them, in an angry, 
contentious, bitter spirit, and get into a jangling controversy, re- 


264 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


vivals will cease. LET THEM KEEP ABOUT THEIR 
WORK, and not talk about the opposition, nor preach, nor print 
about it. If others choose to publish their slang and stuff, let 
the Lord’s servants keep to their work, and all the writing and 
slander will not stop the revival, while those who are engaged 
in it mind their business, and keep to their work. It is aston¬ 
ishing how far this holds true in fact. 

In one place where there was a revival, certain ministers 
formed a combination against the pastor of the church, and a 
plan was set on foot to ruin him, and they actually got him pro¬ 
secuted before his Presbytery, and had a trial that lasted six 
weeks, right in the midst of the revival, and the work still went 
on. The praying members of the church laid themselves out 
so in the work, that it continued triumphantly throughout the 
whole scene. The pastor was called off to attend his trial, but 
there was another minister that labored among the people, and 
the members did not even go to the trial, generally, but kept pray¬ 
ing and laboring for souls, and the revival rode out the storm. 

In many other places, opposition has risen up in the church, but 
a few humble souls have kept at their work, and a gracious 
God has stretched out his naked arm and made the revival go 
forward in spite of all opposition. 

But whenever those who are actively engaged in promoting a 
revival get excited at the unreasonableness and pertinacity of the 
opposition, and feel as if they could not have it so, and they lose 
their patience, and feel as if they must answer their cavils and 
refute their slanders, then they get down into the plains of Ono, 
and the work must cease. 

17. Any diversion of the public mind will hinder a revival. 
Any thing that succeeds in diverting public attention, will put j 
a stop to a revival. In the case I have specified, where the I 
minister was put on trial before his Presbytery, the reason why ' 
it did not ruin the revival was, that the praying members of the 
church would not suffer themselves to be diverted. They did ! 
not even attend the trial, but kept praying and laboring for souls, 
and so public attention was kept to the subject, in spite of all 
the efforts of the devil. 

But whenever he succeeds in absorbing public attention on 
any other subject, he will put an end to the revival. No matter 
what the subject is. If an angel from heaven were to come 
down, and preach, or pass about the streets, it might be the worst 
thing in the world for a revival, for it would turn sinners all off 
from their own sins, and turn the church off from praying for 1 




niNDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


265 


souls, to follow this glorious being, and gaze upon him, and the 
revival would cease. 

18. Resistance to the Temperance Reformation will put a 
stop to revivals in a church. The time has come that it can no 
longer be innocent in a church to stand aloof from this glorious 
reformation. The time was, when this could be done ignorantly. 
The time has been when ministers and Christians could enjoy 
revivals, notwithstanding ardent spirit was used among them. 
But since light has been thrown upon the subject, and it has 
been found that the use is only injurious, no church member or 
minister can be innocent and stand neutral in the cause. They 
must speak out and take sides. And if they do not take ground 
on one side, their influence is on the other. Show me a minis¬ 
ter that has taken ground against the temperance reformation, 
who has had a revival. Show me one who now stands aloof from 
it, who has a revival. Show me one who now temporizes upon 
this point, who does not come out and take a stand in favor of 
temperance, who has a revival? It did not use to be so. But 
now the subject has come up, and has been discussed, and is un¬ 
derstood, no man can shut his eyes upon the truth. The man : s 
hands are BED WITH BLOOD, who stands aloof from the 
temperance cause. And can he have a revival ? 

19. Revivals are hindered when ministers and churches take 
wrong ground in regard to any question involving human 
rights. Take the subject of SLAVERY for instance. The 
time was when this subject was not before the public mind. 
John Newton continued in the slave trade after his conversion. 
And so had his mind been perverted, and so completely was his 
conscience seared, in regard to this most nefarious traffic, that 
the sinfulness of it never occurred to his thoughts until some 
time after he became a child of God. Ilad light been poured 
upon his mind previously to his conversion, he never could have 
been converted without previously abandoning this sin. And 
after his conversion, when convinced of its iniquity, he could 
no longer enjoy the presence of God, without abandoning the 
sin for ever. So, doubtless, many slave dealers and slave hold¬ 
ers in our own country, have been converted, notwithstanding 
their participation in this abomination, because the sinfulness of 
it was not apparent to their minds. So ministers and churches, 
to a great extent throughout the land, have held their peace, and 
borne no testimony against this abominable abomination, existing 
in the church and in the nation. But recently, the subject has 
come up for discussion, and the providence of God has brought 
it distinctly before the eyes of all men. Light is now shed upon 

23 


266 


HINDER AN CES TO REVIVALS. 


this subject as it has been upon the cause of temperance. Facts 
are exhibited, and principles established, and light thrown in 
upon the minds of men, and this monster is dragged from his 
horrid den, and exhibited before the church, and it is demanded 
of them, “ IS THIS SIN?” Their testimony must be given 
on this subject. They are God’s witnesses. They are sworn 
to tell “ the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” 
It is impossible that their testimony should not be given, on one 
side or the other. Their silence can no longer be accounted 
for upon the principle of ignorance, and that they have never 
had their attention turned to the subject. Consequently, the si¬ 
lence of Christians upon the subject is virtually saying that 
they do not consider slavery as a sin. The truth is, it is a sub¬ 
ject upon which they cannot be silent without guilt. The time 
has come, in the providence of God, when every southern breeze 
is loaded down with the cries of lamentation, mourning and wo. 
Two millions of degraded heathen in our own land stretch their 
hands, all shackled and bleeding, and send forth to the church 
of God the agonizing cry for help. And shall the church, in 
her efforts to reclaim and save the world, deafen her ears to this 
voice of agony and despair? God forbid. The church cannot 
turn away from this question. It is a question for the church 
and for the nation to decide, and God will push it to a decision. 

It is in vain for the churches to resist it for fear of distraction, 
contention, and strife. It is in vain to account it an act of piety 
to turn away the ear from hearing this cry of distress. 

The church must testify, and testify “ the truth, the whole 
truth, and nothing but the truth,” on this subject, or she is per¬ 
jured, and the Spirit of God departs from her. She is under 
oath to testify, and ministers and churches who do not pronounce 
it sin, bear false testimony for God. It is doubtless true, that 
one of the reasons for ;he low state of religion at the present 
time, is that many chinches have taken the wrong side on the 
subject of slavery, have suffered prejudice to prevail over prin¬ 
ciple, and have fpared to call this abomination by its true name. 

20. Another thing that hinders revivals is neglecting the 
claims of missions. If Christians do not feel for the heathen, 
neglect the monthly concert, and confine their attention to their 
own church, do not even read the Missionary Herald or use 
any other means to inform themselves on the subject of the claims 
of the world, and reject the light which God is throwing before 
them, and will not do what God calls them to do in this cause, 
the Spirit of God will depart from them. 

21. When a church rejects the calls of God upon them foi 


H1SDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


267 


educating young men for ike ministry , they will hinder and 
destroy a revival. Look at the Presbyterian church, look at 
the 200,000 souls converted within ten years, and means enough 
to fill the world with ministers, and yet the ministry is not in¬ 
creasing so fast as the population of our own country, and un¬ 
less something more can be done to provide ministers, we shall 
become heathen ourselves. The churches do not press upon 
young men the duty of going into the ministry. God pours his 
Spirit on the churches, and converts hundreds of thousands of 
souls, and if then the laborers do not come forth into the har¬ 
vest, what can be expected but that the curse of God will come 
upon the churches, and his Spirit will be withdrawn, and revi¬ 
vals will cease. Upon this subject no minister, no church 
should be silent or inactive. 

22. Slandering revivals will often put them down. The 
great revival in the days of President Edwards suffered greatly 
by the conduct of the church in this respect. It is to be expect¬ 
ed that the enemies of God will revile, misrepresent and slander 
revivals. But when the church herself engages in this work, 
and many of her most influential members are aiding and abet¬ 
ting in calumniating and misrepresenting a glorious work of 
God, it is reasonable that the Spirit should be grieved away. It 
cannot be denied, that this has been done, to a grievous and 
God-dishonoring extent. It has been estimated that in one year, 
since this revival commenced, one hundred thousand souls 
were converted to God in the United States. This was undoubt¬ 
edly the greatest number that were ever converted in one year, 
since the world began. It could not be expected that, in an ex¬ 
citement of this extent, among human beings , there should be 
nothing to deplore. To expect perfection in such a work as 
this, of such extent, and carried on by human instrumentality, is 
utterly unreasonable and absurd. Evils doubtless did exist and 
have existed. They were to be expected of course, and guarded 
against, as far as possible. And I do not believe the world ’3 
history can furnish one instance, in which a revival, approach¬ 
ing to this in extent and influence, has been attended with so 
few evils, and so little that is honestly to be deplored. 

But how has this blessed work of God been treated? Ad¬ 
mitting all the evils complained of to be real, which is far from 
being true, they would only be like spots upon the disk of the 
glorious sun ; things hardly to be thought of, in comparison, of 
the infinite greatness and excellence of the work. And yet 
how have a great portion of the Presbyterian church, received 
and treated this blessed work of God ? At the General Assem 


268 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


bly, that grave body of men that represent the Presbyterian 
Church, in the midst of this great work, instead of appointing 
a day of thanksgiving, instead of praising and glorifying God 
for the greatness of his work, we hear from them the voice of 
rebuke. From the reports that were given of the speeches 
made there, it appears that the house was filled with complain¬ 
ings. Instead of devising measures to forward the work, their 
attention seemed to be taken up with the comparatively trifling 
evils that were incidental to it. And after much complaining, 
they absolutely appointed a committee, and sent forth a “ Pas¬ 
toral Letter” to the churches, calculated to excite suspicions, 
quench the zeal of God’s people, and turn them off from giving 
glory to God for the greatness of the blessing, to finding fault 
and carping about the evils. When I heard what was done at 
that General Assembly, when I read their speeches, when I saw 
their pastoral letter, my soul was sick, an unutterable feeling of 
distress came over my mind, and I felt that God would “ visit” 
the Presbyterian church for conduct like this. And ever since, 
the glory has been departing, and revivals have been becoming 
less and less frequent—less and less powerful. 

And now I wish it could be known, whether those ministers 
who poured out those complainings on the floor of the General 
Assembly, and who were instrumental in getting up that pas¬ 
toral letter, have since been blest in promoting revivals of reli¬ 
gion—whether the Spirit of God has been upon them, and 
whether their churches can witness that they have an unction 
from the Holy One. 

23. Ecclesiastical difficulties are calculated to grieve away 
the Spirit, and destroy revivals. It has always been the policy 
of the devil to turn off the attention of ministers from the work 
of the Lord, to disputes and ecclesiastical litigations. President 
Edwards was obliged to be taken up for a long time in disputes 
before ecclesiastical councils; and in our days, and in the midst 
of these great revivals of religion, these difficulties have been 
alarmingly and shamefully multiplied. Some of the most effi¬ 
cient ministers in the church have been called off from their 
direct efforts to win souls to Christ, to attend day after day, and 
in some instances week after week, to charges preferred against 
them, or their fellow laborers in the ministry, which could never 
be sustained. 

Look at Philadelphia; what endless and disgraceful janglings 
have distracted and grieved the church of God in that city, and 
through the length and breadth of the land. And in the Pres¬ 
byterian churcli at large, these ecclesiastical difficulties have 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


269 


produced evils enough to make creation weep. Brother Beman 
was shamefully and wickedly called off from promoting revivals, 
to attend a trial before his own presbytery, upon charges which, 
if true, were most of them ridiculous, but which could never be 
sustained. And since that time a great portion of his time has, 
it would seem necessarily, been taken up with the adjustment 
of ecclesiastical difficulties. Brother Duffield, of Carlisle, bro¬ 
ther Barnes, of Philadelphia, and others of God’s most suc¬ 
cessful ministers, have been hindered a considerable part of 
their time for years by these difficulties. O, tell it not in Gath! 
When will those ministers and professors of religion who do 
little or nothing themselves, let others alone, and let them work 
for God 1 

These things in the Presbyterian church, their contentions 
and janglings are so ridiculous, so wicked, so outrageous, that 
no doubt there is a jubilee in hell every year, about the time of 
the meeting of the General Assembly. And if there were tears 
in heaven, no doubt they would be shed over the difficulties of 
the Presbyterian church. Ministers have been dragged from 
home, year by year, and perhaps have left a revival in progress, 
and gone up to the General Assembly, and there heard debates, 
and witnessed a spirit, by which their souls have been grieved 
and their hearts hardened, and they have gone home ashamed 
of their church, and ashamed to ask God to pour out his Spirit 
upon such a contentious body. 

24. Another thing by which revivals may be hindered, is cen¬ 
soriousness, on either side , and especially in those who have been 
engaged in carrying forward a revival. It is to be expected 
that the opposers of the work will watch for the halting of its 
friends, and be sure to censure them for all that is wrong, and 
not unfrequently for that which is right in their conduct. 
Especially is it to be expected that many censorious and un¬ 
christian remarks will be made about those that are the most 
prominent instruments in promoting the work. This censori¬ 
ousness on the paTt of the opposers of the work, Avhether in or 
out of the church, will not, however, of itself put a stop to the 
revival. While its promoters keep humble, and in a prayerful 
spirit, while they do not retaliate, but possess their souls in 
patience, while they do not suffer themselves to be diverted, to 
recriminate, and grieve away the spirit of prayer, the work will 
go forward \ as in the case referred to* where a minister was 
on trial for six weeks, in the midst of a revival. There the 
people kept in the dust, and prayed, not so much for their 
minister, for they had left him with God, but with strong crying 

23* 


270 


HINDER AN CES TO REVIVALS. 


and tears pleading with God for sinners. And God heard ana 
blessed them, and the work went on. Censoriousness in those 
who are opposed to the work is but little to be dreaded, for they 
have not the Spirit, and nothing depends on them, and they can 
hinder the work only just so far as they themselves have influ¬ 
ence personally. But the others have the power of the Holy 
Spirit, and the work depends on their keeping in a right temper. 
If they get wrong and grieve away the Spirit, there is no help, 
the work must cease. Whatever provocation, therefore, the 
promoters of this blessed work may have had, if it ceases, the 
responsibility will be theirs. And one of the most alarming 
facts, in regard to this matter, is that in many instances, those 
who have been engaged in carrying forward the work, appear 
to have lost the Spirit. They are becoming diverted, are be¬ 
ginning to think that the opposition is no longer to be tolerated, 
and that they must come out and reply in the newspapers to 
what they say. It should be known and universally under¬ 
stood/ that whenever the friends and promoters of this greatest 
of revivals suffer themselves to be called off to newspaper 
janglings, to attempt to defend themselves, and reply to those 
who write against them, the Spirit of Prayer will be entirely 
grieved away, and the work will cease. Nothing is more de¬ 
trimental to revivals of religion, and so it has always been 
found, than for the promoters of it to listen to the opposition, 
and begin to reply. This was found to be true in the days of 
President Edwards, as you who are acquainted with his book 
on Revivals are well aware. 

III. I proceed to mention somethings which ought to be done, 
to continue this great and glorious revival of religion, which has 
been in progress for the last ten years. 

1. There should be great and deep repeniings on the *part of 
ministers. WE, my brethren, most humble ourselves before 
, God. It will not do for us to suppose that it is enough to call on 
the people to repent. We must repent, we must take the lead 
in repentance, and then call on the churches to follow, 
j Especially must those repent who have taken the lead in pro¬ 
ducing the feelings of opposition and distrust in regard to revi¬ 
vals. Some ministers have confined their opposition against re¬ 
vivals and revival measures to their own congregations, and 
created such suspicions among their own people as to prevent 
the work from spreading and prevailing among them. Such min¬ 
isters would do well to consider the remarks of President Ed¬ 
wards on this subject. 

“ If ministers preach never so good doctrine, and are never so 


HINDERANCE3 TO REVIVALS. 


271 


painful and laborious in their work, yet, if at such a day as this, 
they show to their people, that they are not well-affected to this 
work, but are very doubtful and suspicious of it, they will be 
very Lkely to do their people a great deal more hurt than good; 
for the very fame of such a great and extraordinary work of 
God, if their people were suffered to believe it to be his work, 
and the example of other towns, together with what preaching 
they might hear occasionally, would be likely to have a much 
greater influence upon the minds of their people, to awaken 
and animate them in religion, than all their labors with them: 
and besides their minister’s opinion would not only beget in 
them a suspicion of the work they hear of abroad, whereby the 
mighty hand of God that appears in it, loses its influence upon 
their minds, but it will also tend to create a suspicion of every 
thing of the like nature, that shall appear among themselves, 
as being something of the same distemper that is become so epi¬ 
demical in the land, and that is, in effect, to create a suspicion 
of all vital religion, and to put the people upon talking against 
it, and discouraging it, wherever it appears, and knocking it in 
the head, as fast as it rises. And we that are ministers, by 
looking on this work, from year to year, with a displeased coun¬ 
tenance, shall effectually keep the sheep from their pasture, in¬ 
stead of doing the part of shepherds to them, by feeding them ; 
and our people had a great deal better be without any settled 
minister at all at such a day as this.” 

Others have been more public, and aimed at exerting a wider 
influence. Some have written pieces for the public papers. 
Some men in high standing in the church have circulated Jot¬ 
ters which never were printed. Others have had their letters 
printed and circulated. There seems to have been a system of 
letter writing about the country calculated to create distrust. 
In the days of President Edwards, substantially the same course 
was pursued, in view of which he says in his work on revi¬ 
vals : 

“ Great care should be taken that the press should be improv¬ 
ed to no purpose contrary to the interest of this work. We read 
that when God fought against Sisera, for the deliverance of his 
oppressed church, they that handle the pen of the writer came 
to the help of the Lord in that affair. Judges v. 14. What¬ 
ever sort of men in Israel they were that were intended, yet as 
the words were indited by a Spirit that had a perfect view o) 
ail events to the end of the world, and had a special eye in this 
song, to that great event of the deliverance of God’s church, 
in the latter days, of which this deliverance of Israel was a 


272 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


type, it is not unlikely that they have, respect t© authors, those 
that should fight against the kingdom of Satan, with their pens. 
Those therefore that publish pamphlets to the disadvantage of 
this work, and tending either directly or indirectly to bring it 
under suspicion, and to discourage or hinder it, would do well 
thoroughly to consider whether this be not indeed the work of 
God, and whether, if it be, it is not likely that God will go forth 
as fire, to consume all that stand in his way, and so burn up 
those pamphlets; and whether there be not danger that the fire 
that is kindled in them, will scorch the authors.” 

All these must repent. God never will forgive them, nor 
will they ever enjoy his blessing on their preaching, or be hon¬ 
ored to labor in revivals, till they repent. This duty President 
Edwards pressed upon ministers in his day, in the most forcible 
terms. There doubtless have been now, as there were then, 
faults on both sides. And there must be deep repentance, and 
mutual confessions of faults on both sides. 

“ There must be a great deal done at confessing of faults, on 
both sides; for undoubtedly many and great are the faults that 
have been committed, in the jangling and confusions, and mix¬ 
tures of light and darkness, that have been of late. There is 
hardly any duty more contrary to our corrupt dispositions, and 
mortifying to the pride of man ; but it must be done. Repent¬ 
ance of faults is, in a peculiar manner, a proper duty, when the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand, or when we especially expect or 
desire that it should come; as appears by John the Baptist’s 
preaching. And if God does now loudly call upon us to re¬ 
pent, then he also calls upon us to make proper manifestations 
of our repentance. I am persuaded that those that have openly 
opposed this work, or have from time to time spoken lightly of 
it, cannot be excused in the sight of God, without openly con¬ 
fessing their fault therein ; especially if they be ministers. If 
they have any way, either directly or indirectly, opposed the 
work, or have so behaved in their public performances or pri¬ 
vate conversation, as has prejudiced the minds of their people 
against the work, if hereafter they shall be convinced of the 
goodness and divinity of what they have opposed, they ought 
by no means to palliate the matter, and excuse themselves, and 
pretend that they always thought so, and that it was only such 
and such imprudences that they objected against, but they ought 
openly to declare their conviction, and condemn themselves for 
what they have done; for it is Christ that they have spoken 
against, in speaking lightly of, and prejudicing others against 
this work; yea, worse than that, it is the Holy Ghost. And 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


27S 


though they have done it ignorantly, and in unbelief, yet when 
they find out who it is that they have opposed, undoubtedly God 
will hold them bound publicly to confess it. 

“ And on the other side, if those that have been zealous to 
promote the work, have in any of the forementioned instances 
openly gone much out of the way, and done that which is con¬ 
trary to Christian rules, whereby they have openly injured 
others, or greatly violated good order, and so done that which 
has wounded religion, they must publicly confess it, and humble 
themselves, as they would gather out the stones, and prepare 
the way of God’s people. They who have laid great stumbling 
blocks in others’ way, by their open transgression , are bound to 
remove them, by their open repentance .” 

There are ministers in our day, Isay it not in unkindness but in 
faithfulness, and I would that I had them all here before me 
while I say it, who seem to have been engaged much of their 
time for years in doing little else than acting and talking and 
writing in such a way as to create suspicion in regard to revi¬ 
vals. And I cannot doubt that their churches would, as Presi¬ 
dent Edwards says, be better with no minister at all, unless they 
will repent, and regain his blessing. 

2. Those churches which have opposed revivals must humble 
themselves and repent. Churches which have stood aloof or 
hindered the work must repent of their sin, or God will not go 
with them. Look at those churches now, who have been throw¬ 
ing suspicion upon revivals. Do they enjoy revivals? Does 
the Holy Ghost descend upon them, to enlarge them and build 
them up ? There is one of the churches in this city, where the 
session have been publishing in the newspapers what they call 
their “ Act and Testimony,” calculated to excite an unreason¬ 
able and groundless suspicion against many ministers who are 
laboring successfully to promote revivals. And what is the 
state of that church ? Have they had a revival? Why it ap¬ 
pears from the official report to the General Assembly, that it 
has dwindled in one year twenty-seven per cent. And all such 
churches will continue to dwindle, in spite of every thing else 
that can be done, unless they repent and have a revival. They 
may pretend to be mighty pious, and jealous for the honor of 
God, but God will not believe they are sincere. And he will 
manifest his displeasure, by not pouring out his Spirit. If I 
had a voice loud enough, I should like to make every one of 
these churches and ministers that have slandered revivals, hear 
me, when I say, that I believe they have helped to bring the 
pall of death over the church, and that the curse of God is on 


274 


HINDEKAKCES TO REVIVALS. 


them already, and will remain unless they repent. God has al¬ 
ready sent leanness into their souls, and many of them know it 

3. Those who have been engaged in promoting the work must 
also repent. Whatever they have done that was wrong must 
be repented of, or revivals will not return as in days past. When¬ 
ever a wrong spirit has been manifested, or they have got irri¬ 
tated and provoked at the opposition, and lost their temper, or 
mistaken Christian faithfulness for hard words and a wrong 
spirit, they must repent. Those who are opposed could never 
stop a revival alone, unless those who promote it get wrong. So 
we must repent if we have said things that were censorious, or 
proud, or arrogant, or severe. Such a time as this is no time to 
stand justifying ourselves. Our first call io to repent. Let 
each one repent of his own sins, and not fall out, and quarrel 
about who is most to blame. 

4. The church must take right ground in regard to politics. 
Do not suppose, now, that l am going to preach a political ser¬ 
mon, or that I wish to have you join and get up a Christian par¬ 
ty in politics. No, I do not believe in that. But the time has 
come that Christians must vote for honest men, and take con¬ 
sistent ground in politics, or the Lord will curse them. They 
must be honest men themselves, and instead of voting for a man 
because he belongs to their party, Bank or Anti-Bank, Jackson, 
or Anti-Jackson, they must find out whether he is honest and 
upright, and fit to be trusted. They must let the world see that 
the church will uphold no man in office, who is known to be a 
knave, or an adulterer, or a Sabbath-breaker, or a gambler. 
Such is the spread of intelligence and the facility of communi¬ 
cation in our country, that every man can know for whom he 
gives his vote. And if he will give his vote only for honest 
men, the country will be obliged to have upright rulers. All 
parties will be compelled to put up honest men as candidates. 
Christians have been exceedingly guilty in this matter. But 
the time has come when they must'act differently, or God will 
curse the nation, and withdraw his spirit. As on the subject of 
slavery and temperance, so on this subject, the church must act 
right or the country will be ruined. God cannot sustain this 
free and blessed country, which we love and pray for, unless 
the church will take right ground. Politics are a part of reli¬ 
gion in such a country as this, and Christians must do their 
duty to the country as a part of their duty to God. It seems 
sometimes as if the foundations of the nation were becoming 
rotten, and Christians seem to act as if they thought God did 
not see what they do in politics. But I tell you, lie does see it, 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


275 


and he will bless or curse this nation, according to the course 
they take. 

5. The churches must take right ground on the subject of 
slavery. And here the question arises, what is right ground? 
And First I will state some things that should be avoided. 

(1.) First of all, a bad spirit should be avoided. Nothing is 
more calculated to injure religion, and to injure the slaves them¬ 
selves, than for Christians to get into an angry controversy on 
the subject. It is a subject upon which there needs to be no angry 
controversy among Christians. Slave-holding professors, like 
rum-selling professors, may endeavor to justify themselves, and 
may be angry with those who press their consciences, and call 
upon them to give up their sins. Those proud professors of 
religion who think a man to blame, or think it is a shame to 
have a black skin, may allow their prejudices so far to prevail, 
as to shut their ears, and be disposed to quarrel with those who 
urge the subject upon them. But I repeat it, the subject of 
slavery is a subject upon which Christians, praying men, need 
not and must not differ. 

(2.) Another thing to be avoided is an attempt to take neu¬ 
tral ground on this subject. Christians can no more take 
neutral ground on this subject, since it has come up for discus¬ 
sion, than they can take neutral ground on the subject of the 
sanctification of the Sabbath. It is a great national sin. It is 
a sin of the church. The churches by their silence, and by 
permitting slaveholders to belong to their communion, have 
been consenting to it. All denominations have been more or 
less guilty, although the Quakers have of late years washed 
their hands of it. It is in vain for the churches to pretend it is 
merely a political sin. I repeat it, it is the sin of the church, 
to which all denominations have consented. They have vir¬ 
tually declared that it is lawful. The very fact of suffering 
slaveholders quietly to remain in good standing in their 
churches, is the strongest and most public expression of their 
views that it is not sin. For the church, therefore, to pretend 
to take neutral ground on the subject, is perfectly absurd. The 
fact is that she is not on neutral ground at all. While she tole¬ 
rates slaveholders in her communion SHE JUSTIFIES 
THE PRACTICE. And as well might an enemy of God 
pretend that he was neither saint nor sinner, that he was going 
to take neutral ground, and pray “ good Lord and good devil,” 
because he did not know which side would be the most popular. 

(3.) Great care should be taken to avoid a censorious spirit 
on both sides . It is a subject on which there has been, and 


576 


HINDER AN CES TO REVIVALS. 


probably will be for some time to come, a difference of opinion 
among Christians, as to the best method of disposing of the 
question. And it ought to be treated with great forbearance on 
both sides. A denunciatory spirit, impeaching each other’s 
motives, is unchristian, calculated to grieve the Spirit of God, 
ar.d to put down revivals, and is alike injurious to the church, 
and to the slaves themselves. 

In the second place, I will mention several things, that in 
my judgment the church are imperatively called upon to do, on 
this subject: 

(1.) Christians of all denominations, should lay aside preju¬ 
dice and inform themselves on this subject, without any delay. 
Vast multitudes of professors of religion have indulged prejudice 
to such a degree, as to be unwilling to read and hear, and come to 
a right understanding of the subject. But Christians cannot 
pray in this state of mind. I defy any one to possess the spirit 
of prayer, while he is too prejudiced to examine this, or any 
other question of duty. If the light did not shine, Christians 
might remain in the dark upon this point, and still possess the 
spirit of prayer. But if they refuse to come to the light , they 
cannot pray. Now I call upon all you who are here present, 
and who have not examined this subject because you were 
indisposed to examine it, to say whether you have the spirit of 
prayer. Where ministers, individual Christians, or whole 
churches, resist truth upon this point now, when it is so exten¬ 
sively diffused and before the public mind, I do not believe they 
will or can enjoy a revival of religion. 

(2.) Writings, containing temperate and judicious discus¬ 
sions on this subject, and such developements of facts as are 
before the public, should be quietly and extensively circulated, 
and should be carefully and prayerfully examined by the whole 
church. I do not mean by this, that the attention of the church 
should be so absorbed by this, as to neglect the main question, 
of saving souls in the midst of them. I do not mean that such 
premature movements on this subject should be made, as to 
astound the Christian community, and involve them in a broil; 
but that praying men should act judiciously, and that, as soon 
as sufficient information can be diffused through the community, 
the churches should meekly, but firmly take decided ground 
on the subject, and express before the whole nation and the 
world, their abhorrence of this sin. 

The anti-masonic excitement which prevailed a few years 
since, made such desolations in the churches, and produced sr 
much alienation of feeling and ill will among ministers an. 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


277 


people, and the first introduction of this subject has been attend¬ 
ed with such commotions, that many good ministers, who are 
themselves entirely opposed to slavery, dread to introduce the 
subject among their people, through fear that their churches 
have not religion enough to take it up, and consider it calmly, 
and decide upon it in the spirit of the gospel. I know there is 
danger of this. But still, the subject must be presented to the 
churches. And if introduced with discretion, and with great 
prayer, there are very few churches that have enjoyed revivals, 
and that are at the present time any where near a revival spirit, 
which may not be brought to receive the truth on this subject. 

Perhaps no church in this country has had a more severe 
trial upon this subject, than this. They were a church of 
young and for the most part inexperienced Christians. And 
many circumstances conspired, in my absence, to produce con¬ 
fusion and wrong feeling among them. But so far as I am 
now acquainted with the state of feeling in this church, I know 
of no ill will among them on this subject. The Lord has 
blessed us, the Spirit has been distilled upon us, and consider¬ 
able numbers added to our communion, every month since my 
return. There are doubtless in this church those who feel on 
this subject in very different degrees. And yet I can honestly 
say that I am not aware of the least difference in sentiment 
among them. We have from the beginning, previous to my 
going oU my foreign tour, taken the same ground on the sub¬ 
ject of slavery that we have on temperance. We have excluded 
slaveholders and all concerned in the traffic from our com¬ 
munion. By some,, out of this church, this course has been 
censured, as unwarrantable and uncharitable, and I would by 
no means make my own judgment, or the example of this 
church, a rule for the government of other ministers and 
churches. Still, l conscientiously believe, that the time is not 
far distant, when the churches will be united in this expression 
of abhorrence against this sin. If I do not baptize slavery by 
some soft and Christian name, if I call it SIN, both consistency 
and conscience conduct to the inevitable conclusion, that while 
this sin is persevered in, its perpetrators cannot be fit subjects 
for Christian communion and fellowship. 

To this it is objected, that there are many ministers in the 
Presbyterian church, who are slaveholders. And it is said to he 
very inconsistent that we should refuse to suffer a slaveholder 
to come to our communion, and yet belong to the same church 
with them, sit with them in ecclesiastical bodies, and acknow¬ 
ledge them as ministers. To this I answer, that I have not the 


278 


HINDER AN CCS TO REVIVALS. 


power to deal with those ministers, and certainly I am not to 
withdraw from the church because some of its ministers or mem- 
bers are slaveholders. My duty is to belong to the church, even 
if the devil belong to it. Where I have authority , I exclude 
slaveholders from the communion, and I always will as long as 
I live. But where I have no authority, if the table of Christ 
is spread, I will sit down to it, in obedience to his command¬ 
ment, whoever else may sit down or stay away. 

I do not mean, by any means, to denounce all those slave¬ 
holding ministers and professors, as hypocrites, and to say that 
they are not Christians. But this I say, that while they con¬ 
tinue in that attitude, the cause of Christ and of humanity de¬ 
mands, that they should not be recognized as such, unless we 
mean to be partakers of other men’s sins. It is no more incon¬ 
sistent to exclude slaveholders because they belong to the Pres¬ 
byterian church, than it is to exclude persons who drink or sell 
ardent spirits. For there are a great many rum-sellers belong¬ 
ing to the Presbyterian church. 

I believe the time has come, and although I am no prophet, 
I believe it will be found to have come, that the revival in the 
United States will continue and prevail, no farther and faster 
than the church take right ground upon this subject. The 
church are God’s witnesses. The fact is that slavery is, pre¬ 
eminently, the sin of the church. It is the very fact that minis¬ 
ters and professors of religion of different denominations hold 
slaves, which sanctifies the whole abomination, in the eyes of 
ungodly men. Who does not know that on the subject of tem¬ 
perance, every drunkard in the land, will skulk behind some 
rum-selling deacon, or wine-drinking minister ? It is the most 
common objection and refuge of the intemperate, and of mode¬ 
rate drinkers, that it is practised by professors of religion. It 
is this that creates the imperious necessity for excluding traf¬ 
fickers in ardent spirit, and rum-drinkers from the communion. 
Let the churches of all denominations speak out on the subject 
of temperance, let them close their doors against all who have 
any thing to do with the death-dealing abomination, and the 
cause of temperance is triumphant. A few years would anni¬ 
hilate the traffic. Just so with slavery. 

It is the church that mainly supports this sin. Her united 
testimony upon this subject would settle the question. Let Chris¬ 
tians of all denominations meekly but firmly come forth, and 
pronounce their verdict, let them clear their communions, and 
wash their hands of this thing, let them give forth and write on 
the head and front of this great abomination, SIN ! and in three 


H1NDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


279 


years, a public sentiment would be formed that would carry all 
Wore it, and there would not be a shackled slave, nor a brist¬ 
ling, cruel slave-driver in this land. 

Still it may be said, that in many churches, this subject can¬ 
not be introduced, without creating confusion and ill-will. This 
may be. It has been so upon the subject of temperance, and 
upon the subject of revivals too. In some churches, neither 
temperance nor revivals can be introduced without producing 
dissension. Sabbath-schools, and Missionary operations, and 
every thing of the kind have been opposed, and have produced 
dissensions, in many churches. But is this a sufficient reason 
for excluding these subjects ? And where churches have excluded 
these subjects for fear of contention, have they been blessed with 
revivals ? Every body knows that they have not. But where 
churches have taken firm ground on these subjects, although 
individuals and sometimes numbers have opposed, still they 
have been blessed with revivals. Where any of these subjects 
are carefully and prayerfully introduced, where they are brought 
forward with a right spirit, and the true relative importance is 
attached to each one of them, if in such cases, there are those 
who will make disturbance and resist, let the blame fall where it 
ought. There are some individuals, who are themselves dis¬ 
posed to quarrel with this subject, who are always ready to ex¬ 
claim, “ Don’t introduce these things into the church, they will 
create opposition.” And if the minister and praying people 
feel it their duty to bring the matter forward, they will themselves 
create a disturbance, and then say, “ There, I told you so; now 
see what your introducing this subject has done, it will tear the 
church ail to pieces.” And while they are themselves doing 
all they can to create division, they are charging the division 
upon the subject, and not upon themselves. There are some 
such people in many of our churches. And neither sabbath- 
schools, nor missions, nor revivals, nor anti-slavery, nor any 
thing else that honors God or benefits the souls of men, will 
be carried in the churches, without these careful souls being 
offended by it. 

These things, however, have been introduced, and carried, 
one by one, in some churches with more, and others with less 
opposition, and perhaps in some churches with no opposition at 
all. And as true as God is the God of the church, as certain 
as that the world must be converted, this subject must be consi¬ 
dered and pronounced sin by the church. There might, infi¬ 
nitely better, be no church in the world, than that she should 
attempt to Temain neutral or give a false tesimony on a sub 


280 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


ject of such importance as slavery, especially since the subject 
has come up, and it is impossible from the nature of the case, 
that her testimony should not be in the scale, on the one side or 
the other. 

Do you ask, “What shall be done—shall we make it the all- 
absorbing topip of conversation, and divert attention from the all- 
important subject of the salvation of souls in the midst of us 
I answer, No. Let a church express her opinion upon the sub¬ 
ject, and be at peace. So far as I know, we are entirely at peace 
upon this subject. We have expressed our opinion, we have 
closed our communion against slave holders, and are attending 
to other things. I am not aware of the least unhealthy excite¬ 
ment among us on this subject. And where it has become an 
absorbing topic of conversation in a place, in most instances I 
believe it has been owing to the pertinacious and unreasonable 
opposition of a few individuals against even granting the subject 
a hearing. 

6. If the church wishes to promote revivals, she must sancti¬ 
fy the Sabbath. There is a vast deal of Sabbath-breaking in 
the land. Merchants break it, travellers break it, the govern¬ 
ment breaks it. A few years ago an attempt was made in the 
western part of this state, to establish and sustain a Sabbath¬ 
keeping line of boats and stages. But it was found that the 
church would not sustain the enterprise. Many professors of re¬ 
ligion would not travel in these stages, and would not have their 
goods forwarded in canal boats that would be detained from trav¬ 
elling on the Sabbath. At one time, Christians were much en¬ 
gaged in petitioning Congress to suspend the Sabbath Mails, 
and now they seem to be ashamed of it. But one thing is most 
certain, that unless something is done, and done speedily, and 
done effectually, to promote the sanctification of the Sabbath by 
the church, the Sabbath will go by the board, and we shall not 
only have our mails running on the Sabbath, and Post Offices 
open, but by and by our courts of justice and halls of legislation 
will be kept open on the Sabbath. And what can the church do, 
what will this nation do, without any Sabbath ? 

7. The church must take right ground on the subject of Tem¬ 
perance, and Moral Reform, and all the subjects of practical 
morality which come up for decision from time to time. 

There are those in the churches who are standing aloof from 
the subject of Moral Reform, and who are as much afraid to have 
any thing said in the pulpit against lewdness, as if a thousand 
devils had got up into the pulpit. On this subject, the church 
need not expect to be permitted to take neutral ground. In the 


HINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


28 i 


providence of God, it is up for discussion. The evils have been 
exhibited, the call has been made for reform. And what is to 
reform mankind but the truth ? And who shall present the 
truth if not the church and the ministry ? Away with the idea, 
that Christians can remain neutral and keep still, and yet enjoy 
the approbation and blessing of God. 

In all such cases, the minister who holds his peace is counted 
among those on the other side. Every body knows that it is so 
in a revival. It is not necessary for a person to rail out against 
the work. If he only keeps still and takes neutral ground, the 
enemies of the revival will all consider him as on their side. So 
on the subject of temperance. It is not needful that a person 
should rail at the cold-water society, in order to be on the best 
terms with drunkards and moderate drinkers. Only let him 
plead for the moderate use of wine, only let him continue to 
drink it as a luxury, and all the drunkards account him on their 
side. If he refuses to give his influence to the temperance 
cause, he is claimed of course by the other side as a friend. On 
all these subjects, when they come up, the churches and minis¬ 
ters must take the right ground, and take it openly and stand to 
it, and carry it through, if they expect to enjoy the blessing of 
God in revivals. They must cast out from their communions 
such members, as in contempt of the light that is shed upon 
them, continue to drink or traffic in ardent spirits. 

8. There must he more done for all the great objects of Chris¬ 
tian benevolence. There must be much greater efforts for the 
cause of missions, and education, and the Bible, and all the 
other branches of religious enterprise, or the church will dis¬ 
please God. Look at it. Think of the mercies we have re¬ 
ceived, of the wealth, numbers and prosperity of the church. 
Have we rendered unto God according to the benefits we have 
received, so as to show that the church is bountiful and willing 
to give their money and to work for God? No. Far from it. 
Have we multiplied our means and enlarged our plans, in pro¬ 
portion as the church has increased? Is God satisfied with 
what has been done, or has he reason to be ? Such a revival 
as has been enjoyed by the churches of America for the last ten 
years! We ought to have done ten times as much as we have 
for missions, Bibles, education, tracts, free churches, and in all 
the ways designed to promote religion and save souls. If the 
churches do not wake up on this subject, and lay themselves out 
on a larger scale, they may expect the revival in the United 
States will cease. 

9. If Christians in the United States expect revivals to spread, 

24 * 


282 


IIINDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


and prevail, till the world is converted, they must give up writ¬ 
ing letters and publishing pieces calculated to excite suspicion 
and jealousy in regard to revivals , and must take hold of the 
work themselves. If the whole church as a body had gone to 
work ten years ago, and continued it as a few individuals, whom 
I could name, have done, there would not now have been an 
impenitent sinner in the land. The millenium would have 
fully come in the United States before this day. Instead of 
standing still, and writing letters from Berkshire, let ministers 
who think we are going wrong, just buckle on the harness and 
go forward, and shoio us a more excellent way. Let them teach 
us by their example how to do better. I do not deny that we 
have made mistakes, and committed errors. I do not deny that 
there are many things which are wrong done in revivals. But 
is that the way to correct them, brethren ? So did not Paul. He 
corrected his brethren by telling them kindly that he would show 
them a more excellent way. Let our brethren take hold and go 
forward. Let us hear the cry from all their pulpits. To the 
work. Let them lead on, where the Lord will go with them 
and make bare his arm, and I, for one, will follow. Only let 
them GO ON, and let us have the United States converted to 
God, and let all minor questions cease. 

If not, and if revivals do cease in this land, the ministers and 
churches will be guilty of all the blood of all the souls that shall 
go to hell in consequence of it. There is no need that the work 
should cease. If the church will do all her duty, the millenium 
may come in this country in three years. But if this writing 
letters is to be kept up, filling the country with suspicions and 
jealousies, if it is to be always so, that two-thirds of the church 
will hang back and do nothing but find fault in time of revival, 
the curse of God will be on this nation, and that before long. 

REMARKS. 

1. It is high time there should be great searchings of heart 
among Christians and ministers. Brethren, this is no time to 
resist the truth, or to cavil and find fault because the truth is 
spoken out plainly. It is no time to recriminate or to strive, but 
we must search our own hearts, and humble ourselves before 
God. 

2. We must repent and forsake our sins, and amend our ways 
and our doings, or the revival will cease. Our ecclesiastical 
difficulties MUST CEASE, and all minor differences must be 
laid aside and given up, to unite in promoting the great inter- 


H1NDERANCES TO REVIVALS. 


283 


esls of religion. If not, revivals will cease from among us, and 
the blood of lost millions will be found in our skirts. 

If the church would do all her duty, she would soon com¬ 
plete the triumph of religion in the world. But if this Act and 
Testimony warfare is to be kept up, and this system of espion¬ 
age, and insinuation and denunciation, not only will revivals 
cease, but the blood of millions who will go to hell before the 
church will get over the shock, will be found in the skirts of the 
men who have got up and carried on this dreadful contention. 

4. Those who have circulated slanderous reports in regard to 
revivals, must repent. A great deal has been said about heresy, 
and about some men’s denying the Spirit’s influence, which is 
wholly groundless, and has been made up out of nothing. And 
those who have made up the reports, and those who have cir¬ 
culated them against their brethren, must repent and pray to 
God that they may receive his forgiveness. 

5. We see the constant tendency there is in Christians to de¬ 
clension and backsliding. This is true in all converts of all re¬ 
vivals. Look at the revival in President Edward’s day. The 
work went on till 30,000 souls had been converted, and by this 
time so many ministers and Christians got in such a state, by 
writing books and pamphlets, on one side and the other, that 
they carried all by the board, and the revival ceased. Those 
who had opposed the work grew obstinate and violent, and those 
who promoted it lost their meekness, and got ill-tempered, and 
were then driven into the very evils that had been falsely charg¬ 
ed upon them. 

And now, what shall we do ? This great and glorious work 
of God seems to be indicating a decline. The revival is not 
dead—blessed be God for that,—it is not dead! No, we hear 
from all parts of the land that Christians are reading on the sub¬ 
ject and inquiring about the revival. In some places there are 
now powerful revivals. And what shall we do, to lift up the 
standard, to move this entire nation and turn all this great 
people to the Lord ? We must DO RIGHT. We must all have 
a better Spirit, we must get down in the dust, we must act uni¬ 
tedly, we must take hold of this great work with all our hearts, 
and then God will bless us, and the work will go on. 

What is the condition of this nation ? No doubt, God is 
holding the rod of WAR over the heads of this nation. He is 
waiting before he lets loose his judgments, to see whether the 
church will do right. The nation is under his displeasure, be¬ 
cause the church has conducted in such a manner with respect 
to revivals. And now suppose war should come, where wot Jd 



284 


HINDERANCIS TO REVIVALS. 


be our revivals ? How quickly would war swallow up the re¬ 
vival spirit. The spirit of war is any thing but the spirit of re¬ 
vivals. Who will attend to the claims of religion, when the 
public mind is engrossed by the all-absorbing topic of war. 
See now, how this nation is, all at once , brought upon the brink 
of war. God brandishes his blazing sword over our heads. 
Will the church repent? It is THE CHURCH that God 
chiefly has in view. How shall we avoid the curse of war ? 
Only by a reformation in the church. It is in vain to look to 
politicians to avert war. Perhaps they would generally be in 
favor of war. Very likely the things they would do to avert it 
would run us right into it. If the church will not feel, will 
not awake, will not act, where shall we look for help ? If the 
church absolutely will not move, will not tremble in view of the 
just judgments of God hanging over our heads, we are certainly 
nigh unto cursing, as a nation. 

6. Whatever is done must be done quickly. The scale is on 
a poise. If we do not go forward, we must go back. Things 
cannot remain as they are. If the church do not come up, if we 
do not have a more powerful revival than we have had, very 
soon we shall have none at all. We have had such a great re 
vival, that now small revivals do not interest the public mind. 
You must act as individuals. Do your own duty. You have 
a responsibility. Repent quickly. Do not wait till another 
year. Who but God knows what will be the state of these 
churches, if things go on another year without a great and gen¬ 
eral revival of religion ? 

7. It is common, when things get all wrong in the church, 
for each individual to find fault with the church, and with his 
brethren, and overlook his own share of the blame. Do not let 
any one spend his time in finding fault with that abstract thing, 
“ The church.” But as individual members of the church of 
Christ, let each one act, and act right, and get down in the dust, 
and never speak proudly, or censoriously. GO FORWARD 
Who would leave such a work, and go to writing letters, and go 
down into the plain of Ono, and see if all these petty disputes 
can’t be adjusted, and let the work cease. Let us mind our 
work, and let the Lord take care of the rest. Do our duty, and 
leave the issue to God. 


LECTURE XVI. 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION 

Text.— “Again I say unto you. That if two of you shall agree on earth, as 
touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Fatner 
which is m heaven.”— Matthew xviii. 19 . 

Some weeks since, I used this text, in preaching on the sub¬ 
ject of prayer-meetings. At present I design to enter more into 
the spirit and meaning of the text. The evident design of our 
Lord in this text was to teach the importance and influence of 
union in prayer and effort to promote religion. He states the 
strongest possible case by taking the number two , as the least 
number between whom there can be an agreement, and says 
that “ where two of you are agreed on earth, as touching any 
thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father 
which is in heaven.” It is the fact of their agreement , upon 
which he lays the stress, and mentioning the number two, ap¬ 
pears to have been designed merely to afford encouragement to 
the smallest number between whom there can be an agreement. 
But what are we to understand by being “agreed as touching” 
the things we shall ask ? I will answer this question under the 
two following heads: 

I. By showing that we are to be “ agreed” in prayer. 

II. We are to agree in every thing that is essential to obtain¬ 
ing the blessing that we seek. 

I. In order to come within this promise, we are to be agreed 
in prayer. This is particularly taught in the text. That is, 

1. We should agree in our desires for the object. It is neces¬ 
sary to have desires for the object, and to be agreed in those de¬ 
sires. V'ery often individuals pray in words fox the same thing, 
when they are by no means agreed in desiring that thing. Nay, 
perhaps some of them, in their hearts desire t,he very opposite. 
People are called on to pray for an object, and they all pray for 
it in words, but God knows they often do not desire it, and per¬ 
haps he sees that the hearts of some may, all the while, be re¬ 
sisting the prayer.- 

2. We must agree in the motive f rom which we desire the 
object. It is not enough that our desires for an object should be 
the same, but the reason why must be the same. An individual 


286 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT tOF ONION, 

may desire a revival, for the glory of God and the salvation of 
sinners. Another member of the church may also desire a re 
vival, but from very different motives. Some, perhaps, desire a 
revival in order to have the congregation built up and strength¬ 
ened, so as to make it more easy for them to pay their expenses 
Jn supporting the gospel. Another desires a revival for the 
sake of having the church increased so as to be more numerous 
and more respectable. Others desire a revival because they 
have been opposed or evil spoken of, and they wish to have their 
enemies know that whatever they may think or say, God blesses 
them. Sometimes people desire a revival from mere natural 
affection, so as to have their friends converted and saved. If 
they mean to be so united in prayer as to obtain a blessing, they 
must not only desire the blessing, and be agreed in desiring it, 
but they must also agree in desiring it for the same reasons. 

3. We must be agreed in desiring it for good reasons. These 
desires must not only be united, and from the same motives,, but 
they must be from good motives. The supreme motive must be 
to honor and glorify God. People may even desire a revival, 
and agree in desiring it, and agree in the motives, and yet if these 
motives are not good, God will not grant their desires. Thus 
parents may be agreed in prayer for the conversion of their 
children, and may have the same feelings and the same motives, 
and yet if they have no higher motives than because they are 
their children , their prayers will not be granted. They are 
agreed in the reason, but it is not the right reason. 

In like manner, any number of persons might be agreed in 
their desires and motives, but if their motives are selfish, their 
being agreed in them will only make them more offensive to 
God. “ How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the 
Spirit of the Lord ?” I have seen a great deal of this, where 
churches have been engaged in prayer for an object, and their 
motives were evidently selfish. Sometimes they are engaged in 
praying for a revival, and you would think by their earnestness 
and union that they would certainly move God to grant the 
blessing, till you find out the reason. And what is it? Why, 
they see their congregation is about to be broken up, unless 
something can be done. Or they see some other denomination 
gaining ground, and there is no way to counteract them but by 
having a revival in their church. And all their praying is only 
an attempt to get the Almighty in to help them out of their diffi¬ 
culty, and is purely selfish and offensive to God. A woman in 
Philadelphia, was invited to attend a female prayer-meeting at 
a certain place. She inquired what they met there for, and for 


TUB NECESSITY AND EVFRCT OF UNION. 


287 


what they were going to pray? She was answered that they 
were going to pray for the outpouring of the spirit upon the 
city. “ Well,” said she, “ I shan’t go, if they were going to 
pray for our congregation I would go, but I am not going there 
to pray for other churches!” O, what a spirit! 

I have had a multitude of letters and requests that I should 
visit such and such places, and endeavor to promote a revival, 
and many reasons have been urged why I should go, but when 
I came to weigh their reasons, I have sometimes found every 
one of them selfish. And God would look upon every one with 
abhorrence. 

In prayer-meetings, how often do we hear people offer such 
reasons why they desire such and such blessings, as are not right 
in the sight of God. Such reasons, that if -they are the true 
ones, and if Christians are actually excited by those reasons, it 
would render their prayers not acceptable to God, because their 
motive was not right. 

There are a great many things often said in favor of the cause 
of missions, which are of this character, appealing to wrong 
motives. How often are we told of six hundred millions of hea¬ 
thens, who are in danger of going to hell, and how little is said 
of the guilt of six hundred millions engaged and banded to¬ 
gether as rebels against God, or of the dishonor and contempt 
poured upon God our Maker by such a world of outlaws. Now 
I know that God refers to those motives which appeal to our 
mere natural sympathies, and compassion, and uses them, but 
always in subordination to his glory. If these lower motives 
are placed foremost, it must always produce a defective piety 
and zeal, and a great deal that is false. Until the church will 
look at thp dishonor done to God, little will be done. It is this 
which must be made to stand out before the world, it is this 
which must be deeply felt by the church, it is this which must be 
fully exhibited to sinners, before the world can ever be converted. 

Parents never agree in praying for the conversion of their 
children in such a way as to have their prayers answered, until 
they feel that their children are rebels. Parents often pray very 
earnestly for their children because they wish God to save them, 
and they almost think hard of God if he does not save their 
children. But if they would have their prayers prevail, they 
must come to take God’s part against their children, even though 
for their perverseness and incorrigible wickedness he should be 
obliged to send them to hell. I knew a woman who was very 
anxious for the salvation of her son, and she used to pray for 
him with agony, but still he remained impenitent, until at length 


288 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 


she became convinced that her prayers and agonies had been 
nothing but the fond yearnings of parental feeling, and were 
not dictated at all by a just view of her son’s character as a wilful 
and wicked rebel against God. And there was never any im¬ 
pression made on his mind until she was made to take strong 
ground against him as a rebel, and to look on him as deserving 
to be sent to hell. And then he was converted. The reason 
was, she never before was influenced by the right motive in 
prayer, desiring his salvation with a supreme regard to the 
glory of God. 

4. If we would be so united as to prevail in prayer, we must 
agree in faith. That is, we must concur in expecting the bless¬ 
ing prayed for. We must understand the reason why it is to be 
expected, we must see the evidence on which faith ought to rest, 
and must absolutely believe that the blessing will come, or we do 
not bring ourselves within the promise. Faith is always under¬ 
stood as an indispensable condition of prevailing prayer. If it is 
not expressed in any particular case, it is always implied, for no 
prayer can be effectual but that which is offered in faith. And in 
order that united prayer may prevail, there must be united faith. 

5. So, again, we must be agreed as to the time when we de¬ 
sire the blessing to come. If two or more agree in desiring a 
particular blessing, and one of them desires to have it come 
now , while others are not ready to have it tjuite yet, it is plain 
they are not agreed. They are not united in regard to one es¬ 
sential point. If the blessing is to come in answer to their 
united prayer, it must come as they prayed for it. And if it 
comes, it must be at some time. But if they disagree as to the 
time when they will have it, plainly it can never come in an¬ 
swer to their prayer. 

Suppose a church should undertake to pray for a revival, and 
should be all agreed in desiring a revival, but not as to the time 
when it shall be. Suppose some wish to have the revival come 
now, and are all prepared, and their hearts waitingfor the Spir¬ 
it of God to come down, and are willing to give time and atten¬ 
tion and labor to it NOW ; but others are not quite ready, they 
have something else to attend to just at present, some worldly 
object w r hich they w r ant to accomplish, some piece of business 
in hand and want just to finish this thing, and then —but they 
cannot possibly find time to attend to it now, they are not prepar¬ 
ed to humble themselves, to search their hearts and break up 
their fallow ground, and put themselves in a posture to receive 
the blessing. Is it not plain that here is no real union, for they 
are not agreed in that which is essential? While one pan are 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 289 

praying that the revival may come no v, the others are praying 
with equal earnestness that it may not xme now. 

Suppose the question were now put in 'his church, whether 
you are agreed in praying for a revival ct 'eligion here? Do 
you all desire a revival, and would you al. i.ke to have it come 
now? Would you be heartily agreed no,v \o break down in 
the dust, and open your hearts to the Holy Ghost if he should 
come to-night? I do not ask what you would • ay , if I should 
propose the question. Perhaps if I should put it to you now, you 
would all rise up and vote that you were agreed in desiring a 
revival, and agreed to have it now. You know how you ought 
to feel and what you ought to say, and you know you ought to 
be ready for a revival now. But, I ask, would GOD see it to 
be so in your hearts, that you are agreed on this point? Has 
there been a time, since l came back from the country, that this 
church were all agreed in desiring and praying for a revival, 
and in wishing to have it come now ? Have any two of you agreed 
on this point, and prayed accordingly? If not,, when will you 
be agreed to pray for a revival ? And if this church cannot be 
agreed among yourselves, how can you expect a revival ? It is 
of no use for you to take the outward attitude, and stand up here 
and say you are agreed, when God reads the heart, and sees 
that you are not agreed. Here is the promise—“ Again l say 
unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth, as touching 
any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them ol my 
Father which is in heaven.” Now this is either true, or it is 
false. Which ground will you take? If it is true, then n is 
true that you are not agreed, and never have been, except in 
those cases where you have had a revival. 

But we must agree not only upon a time , but it must be the 
present time , or we are not agreed in every thing essential to the 
work. Unless we agree to have the revival now , we shall not 
now use the means. But until the means are used, it cannot come. 
It is plain then, that we must be agreed upon the present time, 
that is, we are not agreed in the sense of the text, until we agree 
that now we will have the blessing, and conduct accordingly. 
To agree upon a future time is of no use, for when that future 
time comes we must then be agreed upon that present time , and 
use means accordingly, so that you see you are never properly 
agreed until you agree that now is the time. 

II. We are to agree in every thing that is essential to obtain¬ 
ing the blessing that we seek. 

You see the language of the text, “ If two of you shall agree 
as touching any thing that they shall ask.” Many people seem 

25 


290 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION, 

to read it as if it referred merely to an agreement in asking , and 
they understand it to promise, that whenever two are agreed in 
asking for any blessing, it shall be given. But Christ says 
there must be an agreement “as touching” the thing prayed 
for. That is, the agreement or union must comprise every thing 
that is essential to the bestowment and reception of the blessing. 

1. If Christians would enjoy the benefits of this promise in 
praying for a revival, they must be agreed in believing revi¬ 
vals of religion to be a reality. There are many individuals, 
even in the church, who do not in their hearts believe that the 
revivals which take place are the work of God. Some of them 
may pray in words for an outpouring of the Spirit and a revival 
of religion, while in their hearts they doubt whether there are 
any such things known in modern titles. In united prayer 
there must be no hypocrisy. 

2. They must agree in feeling the necessity of revivals . 
There are some who believe in the reality of revivals, as a work 
of God, while at the same time, they are unsettled as to the ne¬ 
cessity of having them in order to the success of the gospel. 
They think there is a real work of God in revivals, but after 
all, perhaps it is quite as well to have sinners converted and 
brought into the church in a more quiet and gradual way, and 
without so much excitement. Whenever revivals are abroad 
in the land, and prevail, and are popular, they may appear in 
favor of them, and may put up their cold prayers for a revival, 
while at the same time they would be sorry on the whole, to 
have a revival come among them. They think it so much safer 
and better, to indoctrinate the people, and spread the matter 
before them in a calm way, and so bring them in gradually, 
and not run the danger of having animal feeling or wild-fire in 
their congregations. 

3. They must be agreed in regard to the importance of re¬ 
vivals. Men are not blessed with revivals, in answer to pray¬ 
ers that are not half in earnest. They must feel the infinite 
importance of a revival, before they will pray so as to prevail. 
Blessings of this kind are not granted but in answer to such 
prayers as arise from a sense of their importance. As I have 
shown before; when preaching on the subject 6f prevailing 
prayer, it is when men desire the blessing with UNUTTER¬ 
ABLE AGONY, that they offer such prayer as will infallibly 
prevail with God. Those who feel less of the importance of a 
revival may pray for it in words, but they will never have the 
blessing. But when a church has been united in prayer, and 
really felt the importance of a revival, they never have failed 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 291 

of having one. I do not believe a case can be found, of such a 
church being turned empty away. Such an agreement, when 
sincere, will secure an agreement also on all other subjects 
that are indispensable. 

4. They must be agreed also, in having correct scriptural no¬ 
tions about several things connected with revivals. 

(1.) The necessity of divine agency to produce a revival. 
It is not enough that they all hold this in theory , and pray for 
it in icords. They must fully understand and deeply feel this 
necessity, they must realize their entire dependence on the 
Spirit of God, or the whole will fail. 

(2.) Why divine agency is necessary. There must be an 
agreement on correct principles in regard to the reason that 
divine agency is so indispensable. If they get wrong ideas on 
this point, they will be hindered. If Christians get the idea 
that this necessity of divine influence lies in the inability of 
sinners, or if they feel as if God was under obligation to give 
the Holy Spirit, in order to make sinners able to obey the 
gospel, they insult God, and their prayers will not avail. For 
in that case they must feel that it is a mere matter of common 
ymtice for God to pour out his Spirit, before he can justly require 
Cm'stians to work, or sinners to repent. 

Suppose a church get the idea that sinners are poor, unfortu¬ 
nate creatures, who come into the world with such a nature 
that they can’t help sinning, and that sinners are just as unable 
to repent and believe the gospel as they are to fly to the moon, 
how can they feel that the sinner is a rebel against God. and 
that he deserves to be sent to hell ? How can they feel that 
the sinner is to blame ? And how can they take God’s part 
when they pray? If they do not take God’s part against the 
sinner, they cannot expect God will regard their prayers, for 
they do not pray with right motives. No doubt one great rea¬ 
son why so many prayers are not answered, is that those who 
pray do in fact take the sinner’s part agdinst God. They pray 
as if the sinner was a poor unfortunate being, to be pitied, 
rather than as if he was a guilty wretch, to be blamed. And 
the reason is that they do not believe sinners are able to obey 
God. If a person does not believe that sinners are&Z>/eto obey 
their Maker, and really believes that the Spirit’s influences are 
necessary to make him able , it is impossible, with these views, 
to offer acceptable and prevailing prayer for the sinner, and it 
is not wonderful that persons with these views should not prevail 
with God, and should doubt about the efficacy of the prayer-of faith. 

How often do you hear people pray for sinners in this style, 


292 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF ONION. 

“ O Lord, help this poor soul to do what he is required to do— 
O Lord, enable him to do so and so.” Now this language 
implies that they take the sinner’s part, and not God’s. If it 
was understood by those who use it, as it is sometimes ex¬ 
plained, and if people meant by it what they ought to mean 
when they plead for sinners, I would not find so much fault with 
it. But the truth is, that when people use this language, they 
often mean just what the language itself would be naturally at 
first sight, understood to mean, which is just as if they should 
pray, “ Lord, thou commandest these poor sinners to repent, 
when, O Lord, thou knowest they cannot repent unless thou 
givest them thy Spirit, to enable them to do it, though thou hast 
declared that thou wilt send them to hell if they do not, whether 
they ever receive the Spirit or not; and now, Lord, this seems 
very hard, and we pray thefe to have pity upon these poor * 
creatures, and do not deal so hardly with them, for Christ’s 
sake.” Who does not see that such a prayer, or a prayer 
which means this, whatever language it may be couched in, is 
an insult to God, charging him with infinite injustice, if he con¬ 
tinues to exact from sinners a duty which they are unable to 
perform without that aid which he will not grant. People may 
pray in this way till the day of judgment, and never obtain a 
blessing, because they take the sinner’s part against God. 
They cannot pray successfully, until they understand that the 
sinner is a rebel, and obstinate in his rebellion—so obstinate 
that he never will, without the Holy Spirit, do what he might 
do as well as not, instantly, and this obstinacy is the reason, 
and the only reason, why he needs the influence of the Holy 
Spirit for his conversion. The only ground on which the 
sinner needs divine agency is to overcome his obstinacy, and 
make him willing to do what he can do, and what God justly 
requires him to do. And a church are never in an attitude in 
which God will hear their united prayers, unless they are 
agreed in so understanding their dependence on God, as to feel 
it in perfect consistency with the sinner’s blame. If it is the 
other way, they are agreed in understanding it wrong, and 
their prayers for divine help to the unfortunate instead of 
divine favor to make a rebel submit, are wide of the mark, are 
an insult to God, and they never will obtain favor in heaven. 

(3.) They must be agreed in understanding that revivals are 
not miracles , but that they are brought about by the use of means 
like other events. No wonder revivals formerly came so sel¬ 
dom and continued so short a time, when people generally re¬ 
garded them as miracles, or like a mere shower of rain, that 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 


293 


will come on a place and continue a little while, and then blow 
over; that is, as something over which we have no control. 
For what can people do to get a shower of rain ? Or how can 
they make it rain any longer than it does rain ? It is necessary 
that those who pray should be agreed in understanding a revi¬ 
val as something to be brought about by means, or they never 
will be agreed in using them. 

(4.) They must be agreed in understanding that human 
agency is just as indispensable to a revival as divine agency. 
Such a thing as a revival of religion, I venture to say, never did 
occur without divine agency, and never did occur without 
human agency. How often do people say, “ God can , if he 
pleases, carry on the work without means.” But I have no 
faith in it, for there is no evidence of it. What is religion ? 
Obedience to God’s law. But the law cannot be obeyed unless 
it is known. And how can God make sinners obey but by mak¬ 
ing known his commandments ? And how can he make them 
known but by revealing them himself, or sending them by others 
—that is, by bringing THE TRUTH to bear upon the per¬ 
son’s mind till he obeys it. God never did and never can con¬ 
vert a sinner except with the truth. What is conversion 1 Obey¬ 
ing the truth. He may communicate it himself, directly to the 
sinner. But then, the sinner’s own agency is indispensable, for 
conversion consists in the right employment of the sinner’s own 
agency. And ordinarily, he employs the agency of others also, 
in printing, writing, conversation, and preaching. God has put 
the gospel treasure in earthen vessels. He has seen fit to em¬ 
ploy men in preaching the word. That is, he has seen that 
human agency is that which he can best employ in saving sin¬ 
ners. And if there ever was a case, of which we have no evi¬ 
dence, there is not one in a thousand, if one in a million, con¬ 
verted in any other way than through -the truth, made known 
and urged by human instrumentality. And as the church must 
be united in using those means, it is plainly necessary that they 
should be united in understanding the true reason why means 
are to be used, and the true principles on which they are to be 
governed and applied. 

5. It is important that there should be union in regard to the 
measures essential to the promotion of a revival. Let individ¬ 
uals agree to do any thing whatever, and if they are not agreed 
in their measures, they will run into confusion, and counteract 
one another. Set them to sail a ship, and they never can get 
along without agreement. If they attempt to do business as 
merchants when they are not agreed in their measures, what 

25* 


294 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 

will they do? Why, they will only undo each other’s work, 
and thwart the whole business of the concern. All this is pre¬ 
eminently true in regard to the work of promoting a revival. 
Otherwise the members of the church will counteract each 
other’s influence, and they need not expect a revival. 

(1.) The church must be agreed in regard to the meetings 
which are held , as to what meetingshall be held, and how many, 
and where, and when they shall be held. Some people always 
desire to multiply meetings in a revival, as if the more meet¬ 
ings they had, the more religion. Others are always opposed 
to any new meetings in a revival. Some are always for having 
a protracted meeting, and others are never ready to hold a pro¬ 
tracted meeting at all. Whatever difference there may be, it is 
essential that the church should come to a good understanding 
on the subject, so that they can go on together in harmony, and 
labor with zeal and effect. 

(2.) They must be agreed as to the manner of conducting 
meetings. It is necessary that the church should be united and 
cordial on this subject, if they expect to offer united prayer 
with effect. Sometimes there are individuals who want to adopt 
every new thing they can hear of or imagine, while others are 
totally unwilling to have any thing altered in regard to the man¬ 
agement of the meeting, but would have every thing done pre¬ 
cisely as they are accustomed to. They ought to be agreed in 
some way, either to have the meetings altered, or to keep them 
on in the old way. The best possible way is, for the church to 
agree in this, that they will let the meetings go on and take 
their course, just as the Spirit of God shapes them, and not even 
attempt to make two meetings just alike. The church never 
wall give the fullest effect to the truth, until they are agreed in 
this principle,—That in promoting a revival they will accom¬ 
modate their measures to circumstances, and not attempt to in¬ 
terrupt the natural course which pious feeling and sound judg¬ 
ment indicate, but cast themselves entirely upon 'the. guidance 
and direction of the Holy Spirit, introducing any measure, at 
any time, that shall seem called for in the Providence of God, 
* without laying any stress upon its being new or old. 

6. They must be agreed in the manner of dealing with im¬ 
penitent sinners. This is a point immensely important, that 
the church should be agreed in their treatment of sinners. Sup¬ 
pose that they are not agreed, and one will tell a sinner one 
thing and another another. What confusion ! How can they 
agree in prayer, when it is plain that they are not agreed as to 
the things they shall pray for. Go among such a church, and 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 


295 


hear them pray for sinners. Attend a prayer-meeting and listen. 
Here is one man prays that the sinners present may repent. 
Another prays that they may he convicted, and perhaps, if he is 
very much engaged, will go so far as to pray that they may be 
deeply convicted. Another prays that sinners may go home 
solemn, and pensive, and silent, meditating upon the truths they 
have heard. Another prays in such a manner, that you can 
see he is afraid to have them converted now. Another prays 
very solemnly that they may not attempt to do any thing in 
their own strength. And so on. How easy it is to see that 
the church are not agreed as touching the things they ask for, 
and of course they have no interest in the promise. 

If you set them to talk with sinners, their courses would be 
just as discordant, for it is plain that they are not agreed, and 
have no clear views in regard to what a sinner must do to be 
saved, or of what ought to be said to sinners, to bring them to 
repent. And the consequence is, that sinners who are awak¬ 
ened and anxious, presently get confounded, and do not know 
what to do, and perhaps give it all up in despair, or conclude 
there is in reality nothing rational or consistent in religion. 
One will tell the sinner he must repent, immediately. Another 
will give him a book, Doddridge’s Rise and Progress perhaps, 
and tell him to read that book. Another will tell him he must 
pray and persevere, and in God’s time he will obtain the bless¬ 
ing. A revival can never go on, for any length of time, amidst 
such difficulties. If it begins, it. must soon run out; unless, 
perhaps, the body of the church will keep still and say nothing 
at all, and let others carry on the work. And there the work 
will suffer materially for want of their co-operation and support. 
A church ought to be agreed. Every Christian ought to have 
a clear understanding of this subject, and all speak the same 
thing, and give the same directions. And then the sinner will 
find no one to take his part, and can get no relief or comfort till 
he repents. 

7. They must be agreed in removing the impediments to a 
revival. If a church expects a revival, they must take up the 
stumbling blocks out of the way. 

(1.) In the exercise of discipline. If there are rotten mem¬ 
bers in the church, they should be removed, and the church 
should all agree to cut them off If they remain in the church, 
they are such a reproach to religion, as to hinder a revival. 
Sometimes when an attempt is made to cast them out, this 
creates division, and thus the work is stopped. Sometimes the 
offenders are persons of influence* or they have family friends 


296 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 

who will take their part, and make a party, and thus create a 
bad spirit, and prevent a revival. 

(2.) In mutual confessions. Whenever wrong has been done 
to any, tb^re should be a full confession. I do not mean a cold 
and forced acknowledgment, such as saying, “ If I have done 
wrong, I am sorry for it.” But a hearty confession, going the 
full length of the wrong, and showing that it comes out of a 
broken heart. 

(3.) Forgiveness of enemies. A great obstruction to revivals 
is often found in the fact that active and leading individuals har¬ 
bor a revengeful and unforgiving spirit towards those who have 
injured them, which destroys their spirituality, makes them 
harsh and disagreeable in their manner, and prevents them from 
enjoying either communion with God in prayer, or the blessing 
of God to give them success in labor. But let the members of 
a church be truly agreed, in breaking down and confessing their 
own faults, and in cherishing a tender, merciful, forgiving, * 
Christ-like spirit toward those who they think have done them 
wrong, and then the Spirit will come down upon them not by 
measure. , 

8. They must be agreed in making all the necessary prepa¬ 
rations for a revival. They should be agreed, in having all 
necessary preparation made, and agreed in bearing their part 
of the labor or expense of making it. There should be an 
equality, and not let a few be burthened and the rest do little or 
nothing, but every one his proportion, according to his several 
ability. Then there will be no envying nor jealousy, nor any 
of those mutual recriminations and altercations and disrespectful 
remarks about one another, which are so inconsistent with bro¬ 
therly love, and such a stumbling block in the way of sinners. 

9. They must be agreed in doing heartily whatever is neces¬ 
sary to be done for the 'promotion of the revival. Sometimes a 
slight disagreement about a very little thing will be allowed to 
break in and destroy a revival. A minister told me that he once 
went to labor in a place as an evangelist, and the Spirit of God 
was evidently present, and sinners began to inquire, and things 
looked quite favorable, until some of the members in the church 
began to agitate the inquiry how they should pay him for his 
services. They said “ If he stays among us any longer, he will 
expect we should give him something,” and they did not see how 
they could afford to do it. And they talked about it until the 
minds* of the brethren got distracted and divided, and the minis* 
ter went away. Look at it. There God stood in the door of 
that church, with his hands full of mercies but these-parsimo- 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 297 

nious and wicked professors thought it would cost something to 
have a revival, and their expenses were about as much as they 
felt willing or able to bear. And so they let him depart and the 
work ceased. The minister would not have left, at the time, 
whether they gave him any thing or not, for what he should re¬ 
ceive, or whether he should receive any thing from them, was 
a question about which he felt no concern. But the church by 
their parsimonious spirit got into such a state as to grieve the 
Spirit, and he saw that to stay longer with them would do no 
good. O, how will those professors feel when they meet sin¬ 
ners from that town in judgment, when it will all come out, that 
God was ready and waiting to grant them a blessing, but they 
allowed themselves to get agitated and divided by inquiring how 
much they should have to pay ! 

10. They must be agreed in laboring to carry on the work. 
It is not enough that they should agree to pray for a revival, 
but they should agree also in laboring to promote it. They 
should set themselves to it systematically, and as a matter of 
business, to visit and converse and pray with their neighbors, to 
look out for opportunities of doing good, to watch the effect of 
the word, and watch the signs of the times, that they may know 
when any thing needs to be done, and do it. 

(1.) They should be agreed to labor. 

(2.) They should be agreed how to labor. 

(3.) They should be agreed to live accordingly. 

11. They must agree in a determination to persevere. It will 
not answer for some members of the church to-day to begin to 
move and bluster about, and then as soon as the least thing turns 
up unfavorable, to get discouraged, and faint, and one-half of 
them give over. They should be all united and agree to perse¬ 
vere, and labor, and pray, and hold on, until the blessing comes. 

In a word, if Christians expect to unite in prayer and effort, 
so as to prevail with God, they must be agreed in speaking and 
doing the same things, in walking by the same rule, and main¬ 
taining the same /principles, and in persevering till they obtain 
the blessing, so as not to hinder or thwart each other’s efforts. 
All this is evidently implied in being agreed “ as touching ” the 
things for which they are praying. 

REMARKS. 

1. We see why it is that so many of the children of profes¬ 
sing parents are not converted. 

It is because the parents have not been agreed as touching 
the things they should pray for in behalf of their children. 


298 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 

Perhaps they never had any kind of agreement respecting them- 
Perhaps they were never agreed even as to what was the very 
best iking they could ask for them. Sometimes parents are not 
agreed in any thing, but their opinions clash and they are per¬ 
petually disagreeing, and their children see it, and then no won¬ 
der they are not converted. 

Or perhaps they may not he agreed as touching the salvation 
of their children. Are they sincere in desiring it? Do they 
agree to desire it, and agree from right motives? Do they 
agree in regard to the importance of it? Are they agreed how 
their children ought to be dealt with, to effect their conversion 
—what shall be said to them—how it shall be said—when—by 
whom. Alas! in how many cases is it evident they are not 
agreed. Probably few cases will be found, where children re¬ 
main unconverted, but what it will prove that the parents were 
never truly agreed as touching the things they should ask for 
the salvation of their children. 

Often there is such disagreement that we could not expect 
any good to result, or any thing but ruin to the children. The 
husband and wife often disagree entirely and fundamentally in 
regard to the manner of bringing up their children. Perhaps 
the wife is fond of dress, and display, and visiting, -while the 
husband is plain and humble, and is grieved and distressed and 
mourns and prays to see how his .children are puffed up with 
vanity. Or it may be that the father is ambitious, and wants to 
have his daughters fashionably educated and make a display, 
and his'sons become great men, and-so he will send his daugh¬ 
ters to a polite boarding-school where they .may learn any thing 
but their duty to God, and will be all the time pushing his sons 
forward, and goading their ambition, while the mother grieves 
and weeps in secret to see her dear children hurried on to destruc¬ 
tion, and all her own influence counteracted, and her sons and 
daughters trained up to serve the god of this world, and go,to hell. 

2. We see the hypocrisy of those who profess to be praying 
for a revival while they are doing nothing to promote it. There 
are many who appear to be very zealous in 'praying for a revi¬ 
val, while they are not doing any thing at all for one. What 
do they mean. Are they agreed as touching the things they 
ask for? Certainly not. They cannot be agreed in offering ac¬ 
ceptable prayer for a revival until they are prepared TO DO 
what God requires them to do to promote it. What would you 
think of the farmer who should pray for a crop and not plough 
nor sow? Would you think such prayers pious, or an insult 
to God? 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 299 

3. We see why so many prayers offered in the church are 
never answered. It is because those who offered them never 
were agreed as touching the things they asked for. Perhaps 
the minister never laid the subject before them, never explained 
•what it is to be agreed, nor showed them its importance, nor 
set before them the great encouragement which the promise be 
fore us affords to churches that will agree. Perhaps the mem 
bers of the church have never conferred together, and compared 
their views, to see whether they understood the subject alike, 
whether they were agreed in regard to the motives, grounds, 
and importance of being united in prayer and labor for a revi¬ 
val. Suppose you were to go through the churches in this city, 
and learn the precise views and feelings of the members on this 
subject. How many would you find who were agreed even in 
regard to the essential and indispensable things,* concerning 
which it is necessary Christians should be agreed in order to 
unrite in prevailing prayer? Perhaps no two could be J found 
who are agreed, and if two were found, whose views and desires 
were alike, it would probably be ascertained that they are un¬ 
acquainted with each other, and of course neither act not pray 
together. 

4. We see why it is that this text has been generally under¬ 
stood to mean something different from what it says. People 
have first read it wrong. They have read it as if it was, “If 
any two of you shall agree to ask any thing, it shall be done.*’ 
And as they have often agreed to ask for things and the things 
were not done, they have said, “ The literal meaning of the text 
cannot be true for we have tried it and know it is not true.— 
How many prayer meetings have we held, and how many peti¬ 
tions have we put up, in which we have perfectly agreed in 
asking for blessings, and yet they have not been granted.” 
Now the fact is, that they have never yet understood what it is 
to be agreed as touching the things they are to ask for. I am 
sure this is no strained construction of the text, but is its true and 
obvious meaning, as a plain, pious reader would understand it, if 
he inquired seriously and earnestly the true import. They must 
be agreed not only in asking , but in every thing else that is in¬ 
dispensable to the existence of the thing prayed for. Suppose 
two of you were agreed in desiring to go to London together. 
If you were not agreed in regard to the means, what route you 
shall take, and what ship you will go in, you will never get 
there together. Just so in praying for a revival, you must be 
agreed in regard to the means and circumstances, and every 
thing essential to the existence and progress of a revival. 


SOO THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 

5. We may ordinarily expect a revival of religion to prevail 
and extend among those without the church, just in proportion 
to the union of prayer and effort within. If there is a general 
union within the church, the revival will be general. If the 
union continues, the revival will continue. If any thing begins 
to break in upon this perfect union in prayer and effort, it will 
begin to limit the revival. How great and powerful would be 
the revival in this city, if all the churches in the city were thus 
united in promoting it. 

There is another fact, which I have witnessed, worthy of 
notice. I have observed, that a revival will prevail out of the 
church, among persons in that class of society , amongst whom it 
prevails in the church. If the females in the church are most 
awake and prayerful, the work nfay ordinarily be expected to 
prevail mostly amortg fefriales out of the church, and more 
women will be converted than men. If the youth of either, or 
of both sexes, in the church are most awake, the work is most 
likely to prevail among youth, male or female, or both, as the 
work may be in the' church, in this respect. If the heads of fa¬ 
milies and the principal men in the church are awake, the revi¬ 
val is, I have observed, more likely to prevail among that class 
out of the church. I have known a-revival mostly confined to 
females, and few males converted, apparently because the male 
part of the church did not take hold and work. Again I have 
repeatedly known the greatest number of converts among men , 
owing apparently to the fact that the male part of the church 
were most engaged. When the revival does not reach a parti¬ 
cular class of the impenitent, pains should be taken to arouse 
that portion of the church who are of their own age and stand¬ 
ing, to make more direct efforts for their conversion. There 
seems to be a philosophy in this fact, which has often been wit¬ 
nessed. Different classes of professors naturally feel a sym¬ 
pathy for the impenitent of their own sex and age and rank , and 
more naturally pray for them, and have more intercourse with 
them, and more influence over them, and this seems to be at 
least one of the reasons why revivals are apt to be the most 
powerful and general in that class without the church who are 
the most awake in the church. Christians should understand 
this, and feel their responsibility. One great reason why so few 
of the principal men are sometimes converted in revivals, doubt¬ 
less is, that that class in the church are often so worldly, they 
cannot be aroused. The revival will generally prevail mostly 
in those families where the professors belonging to them are 
awake, and the impenitent belonging to those families where 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 


301 


the professors are not awake, are apt to be left unconverted. One 
principal reason, obviously is, that when the professors in a 
family or neighborhood are awake, there is not only prayer of¬ 
fered for sinners in the midst of them, but there are correspond¬ 
ing influences acting upon the impenitent among them. If they 
are awake, their looks and lives and warnings, all tend to pro¬ 
mote the conversion of their impenitent friends. But if they are 
asleep, all their influences tend to prevent their conversion. 
Their coldness grieves the Spirit, their \\*orldliness contradicts 
the gospel, and all their intercourse with their impenitent friends 
is in favor of impenitence, and calculated to perpetuate it. 

6. We see why different denominations have been suffered to 
spring up in the church, and under the government of God. 

Christians often see and deplore the evils that have arisen to 
the church of God, from the division of his people into jarring 
sects. And they have wondered and been perplexed, to think 
that God should suffer it to be so. But in the light of this sub¬ 
ject we can see, that considering what diversities of opinions 
and feelings and views actually exist in the church, much good 
results from this division of sects. Considering this diversity of 
opinion, many would never agree to pray and labor together, so 
as to do it with success, and so it is better they should separate, 
and let those unite who are agreed. In all cases where there 
cannot be a cordial agreement in labor, it is better that each de¬ 
nomination should labor by themselves, so long as this difference 
exists. I have sometimes seen revivals broken up by attempt¬ 
ing to unite Christians of different denominations in prayer and 
labor together, while they were not agreed as to the principles or 
measures by which the work was to be promoted. They would 
then undo each others work, and destroy each other’s i lfluence, 
perplex the anxious, and give occasion to enemies to bh spheme, 
and soon their feelings would get soured, and the Spirit of God is 
grieved away, and the work stops, and perhaps painful confu¬ 
sion and controversy follow. 

7. We see why God sometimes suffers churches to be divided. 
It is because he finds that the members are so much at variance 
that they will not pray and labor together with effect. Some¬ 
times churches that are in such a state, will still keep together 
from worldly considerations and worldly policy, because it is so 
much easier for the whole to support public worship. Perhaps 
both parties want to keep the meeting-house, or both want to re¬ 
tain the minister, and they cannot agree which shall go ofk and 
so they continue along, jealous and jangling for years, accom¬ 
plishing little or nothing for the salvation of sinners. In such 


302 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION, 

cases, God has often let something turn up among them, that 
would tear them asunder , and then each party would go to work 
in their own way, and perhaps both would prosper. While 
they were in the same church, they were always making each 
other trouble, as they did not think nor feel alike, but as soon as 
they were separated, every thing settled down in peace, and 
made it evident that it was better they should divide. I have 
known some cases in this state, where this has been done with 
the happiest results, and both churches have been speedily bless¬ 
ed - with revivals. 

8. It is evident that many more churches need to be divided. 
How many churches there are, who are holding together, and 
yet are doing no good, for the simple reason that they are not 
sufficiently agreed. They do not think alike nor feel alike on 
the subjects connected with revivals, and while this is so, they 
never can work together. Unless they can be brought to such 
a change of views and feelings on the subject as will unite them, 
they are only a hinderance to each other and to the work of God. 
In many cases they see and feel that it is so, and yet they keep 
together, conscientiously, for fear a division should dishonor re¬ 
ligion, when in fact the division that now exists may be making 
religion a by-word and a reproach. Far better would it be if 
they would just agree to divide amicably, like Abraham and 
Lot. “If thou wilt take the left hand, I will go to the right; 
or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.” 
Let them separate, and each work in his own way, and they 
may both enjoy the blessing. 

9. We see why a few individuals, who are perfectly united 
may be successful in gathering and building up a new church, 
and may do so much better than a much larger number who are 
not agieed among themselves. If I were going to gather a new 
church in this city, I should rather have five persons, or three, 
or even two that were perfectly agreed as touching the things 
they were to pray for, and the manner in which they should 
labor for them, and in all that is essential to the prosperity of 
a church, and who would stand by me, and stand by each other, 
than to have a church to begin with, of five hundred members 
who were not agreed. 

10. We see what glorious things may be expected for Zion, 
whenever the churches generally shall be agreed on these sub¬ 
jects. When ministers shall lay aside their prejudices, and their 
misconstructions, and their jealousies, and shall see eye to eye, 
and when the churches shall understand the Bible alike, and see 
their duty alike, and pray alike, and shall be “ agreed as touch - 




THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 303 

ing the things they shall ask for,” a nation shall be born in a 
day. Only let them feel as the heart of one man, and be agreed 
as to what ought to be done for the salvation of the world, and 
the millenium will come at once. 

11. There is vast ignorance in the churches on the subject 
of revivals. After all the revivals that have been enjoyed, and 
all that has been said and written and printed concerning re¬ 
vivals, there are very few who have any real, consistent know¬ 
ledge on the subject. And when there is a revival, how few are 
there who can take hold to labor and promote it as if they 
understood what they were about. How few persons are to be 
found, who have ever taken up revivals of religion as a subject 
to be studied and understood. Every body knows, that in a revi¬ 
val Christians must pray, and must do some things which they 
have not been in the habit of doing. But multitudes know 
nothing of the REASON WHY they should do this, or why 
one thing is better than, another, and of course they have no 
principles to guide them, and when any thing occurs which 
they did not expect, they are all at a fault and know nothing 
what to do. If men should go to work to build a house of 
worship, and know as little how to proceed as many ministers 
and professors know how to build the spiritual temple of God, 
they never would get up a house in the world. And yet people 
make themselves believe they are building the church of God, 
when they know nothing at all what they are about, and are 
utterly unable to give a reason wh'y they are doing as they do, 
or why one thing should be done rather than another. There 
are multitudes in the church who never seem to suppose that the 
work of promoting revivals of religion is one that requires study, 
and thought, and knowledge of principles, and skill in apply¬ 
ing the word of God, so as to give every one his portion in season. 
And so they go on, generally doing little or nothing because they 
are attempting nothing, and if they ever do awake, go headlong 
to work, without any system or plan, as if God had left this part 
of our duty out «of the reach of sound judgment and good sense. 

12.. There is vast ignorance among ministers upon this sub¬ 
ject, and one great reason of this ignorance is, that many get 
the idea that they already understand all about revivals, when 
in reality they know next to nothing about them. I once knew 
a minister come in where there was a powerful revival, and 
blustered about and found fault with many things, spoke of his 
knowledge of revivals, that he had been in seventeen of them 
and so on, when it was evident that he knew nothing as he 
ought to know of revivals. 



304 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 

13. How important it is that the church should he trained 
and instructed, so as to know what to do in a revival. They 
should be trained and disciplined like an army; each one 
having a place to fill, and something to do, and knowing where 
he belongs, and what he has to do, and how to do it. Instead 
of this, how often do you see a church in a time of revival take 
hold of the work to promote it, just like a parcel of children 
taking hold to build a house. How few are there that really 
know how to do—what?—Why, the very thing for which God 
suffers Christians to live in this world, the very thing for which 
ALONE he would ever let them remain away from heaven a 
day, is the very thing of all others that they do not study and 
do not try to understand. 

14. We see why revivals are often so short, and why they so 
often produce a reaction. It is because the church do not 
understand the subject. Revivals are short, because professors 
have been stirred up to a spasmodical kind of action. They 
have gone to work by impulse rather than from deliberate con¬ 
viction of duty, and have been guided by their feelings rather 
than by a sound understanding of what they ought to do. The 
church did not know what to do, what they could do, and what 
they could not, nor how to husband their strength, nor what the 
state of things would bear, and perhaps their zeal led them into 
some indiscretions, and they lost their hold on God, and so the 
enemy prevailed. The church ought to be so trained as to 
know what to do, so as never to fail, and never to suffer defeat 
or re-action, when they attempt to promote a revival. They 
should understand all the tactics of the devil, and know where 
to guard against his devices, so that they may know him when 
they see him, and not mistake him for an angel of light come 
to give them lessons of wisdom in promoting the revival, and so 
that they can co-operate wisely with the minister, and with one 
another, and with the Holy Ghost, in carrying on the work. 
No person who has been conversant in revivals can overlook 
the fact, that the ignorance of professors of religion concerning 
revivals, and their stupid blunders are among the most common 
things that put revivals down, and bring back a fearful reaction 
upon the church. Brethren, How long shall this be so ? It 
ought not to be so, it need not be so, shall it always be so ? 

15. We see that every church is justly responsible for the souls 
that are among them. If God has given such a promise, and 
if it is true that where so many as two are agreed, as touching 
the things they ask for, it shall be done, then certainly Chris¬ 
tians are responsible, and if sinners are lost, their blood will be 


THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION. 


305 


found upon the church. If the churches can have what they 
ask, as soon as they are agreed as touching it, then certainly the 
damnation of the world will be required at the hands of the 
church. 

16. We see the guilt of ministers, ia not informing them¬ 
selves, and rightly and speedily instructing the churches upon 
this momentous subject. Why, what is the end of the Chris¬ 
tian ministry! What have they to do, but to instruct and mar¬ 
shal the sacramental host, and lead them on to conquest. What! 
let the church remain in ignorance upon the very subject, and 
the only point of duty, for the performance of which they are in 
the world, the salvation of sinners. Some ministers have acted 
as mysteriously about revivals, as if they thought Christians 
were either incapable of understanding how to promote them, 
or that is was of no importance that they should know. But 
this is all wrong. No minister has yet begun to understand, or 
do his duty, if he has neglected to teach his church to work for 
God in the promotion of revivals. What is he about ? What 
does he mean ? Why is he a minister ? To what end has he 
taken the sacred office ? Is it that he “ may eat a piece of bread?” 

17. We see that pious parents can render the salvation of 
their children certain. Only let them pray in faith, and be 
agreed as touching the things they shall ask for, and God has 
promised them the desire of their hearts. Who can be agreed 
so well as parents ? Let them be agreed in prayer, and agreed 
what to do, and agreed in doing all their duty, let them thus train 
up their children in the way they should go, and when they are 
old, they will not depart from it. 

And now, brethren, do you believe you are agreed, according 
to the meaning of this promise ? I know that where a few in¬ 
dividuals may be agreed in some things, they may produce some 
effect. But while the body of the church are not agreed, there 
will always be so many things to counteract, that they will accom¬ 
plish but little. THE CHURCH MUST BE AGREED. 
O, if we could find one church that were perfectly and heartily 
agreed in all these points, so that they could pray and labor to¬ 
gether, all as one, what good would be done! But now, while 
things are as they are, we see colony after colony peopling hell, 
because the church are not agreed. O, what do Christians think, 
how can they keep still, when God has brought down his bless¬ 
ings so that if any two were agreed, as touching the things they 
ask for, it would be done. Alas! alas! how bitter will be the 
remembrance of these janglings in the church, when Christians 
come to see the crowds of lost souls that have gone down to 

26* 



306 THE NECESSITY AND EFFECT OF UNION- 

hell, because we were not agreed to labor and pray for their sab 
vation. 

Finally. —In the light of this promise we see the awful 
guilt of the church. God has given it to be the precious in¬ 
heritance of his people at all times, and in all places. If his 
people agree, their prayers will be answered. We see the aw¬ 
ful guilt of this church, who come here and listen to lectures 
about revivals and then go away and have no revival , and also 
the guilt of members of other churches who hear these lectures 
and go home and refuse to do their duty. How can you meet 
the thousands of impenitent sinners around you, at the bar of 
God, and see them sink away into everlasting burnings ? Have 
you been united in heart to pray for them ? If you have not, 
why have you disagreed? Why have you not prayed with 
this promise until you have prevailed ? 

Younvill now either be agreed, and pray for the Holy Ghost, 
and receive him before you leave the house, or the anger of the 
Lord will be upon you. Should you now agree to pray in the 
sense of this promise, for the Spirit of God to come down on 
this city, the heavenly dove would fly through the city in the 
midst of the night and would rouse the consciences and break 
up the guilty slumbers of the wicked. What then is the crim¬ 
son guilt of those professors of religion who are sleeping in 
sight of such a promise ! They seem to have skipped over, or 
to have entirely forgotten it. Multitudes of sinners going to hell 
in all directions, and yet this blessed promise is neglected; yea, 
more, is practically despised by the church. There it stands in 
the solemn record, and the church might take hold of it in such 
a manner that vast numbers might be saved, but they are not 
agreed. Therefore souls will perish. And where is the re¬ 
sponsibility? Who can take this promise and look the perish¬ 
ing in the face at the day of judgment ? 


LECTURE XVII. 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


Text.—“ How then comfort ye,me in vain, seeing in your answers there re- 
maineth falsehood.”—J ob. xxi. 34. 

Job’s three friends insisted on it that the afflictions which he 
suffered were sent as a punishment for his sins, and were evi¬ 
dence conclusive that he was a hypocrite, and not a good man 
as he professed to be. A lengthy argument ensued, in which 
Job referred to all past experience, to prove that men are not 
dealt with in this world according to their character, that the 
distinction is not observed in the allotments of Providence. His 
friends maintained the opposite, and intimated that this world is 
also a place of rewards and punishments, in which men receive 
good or evil, according to their deeds. In this chapter, Job 
shows by appealing to common sense and common observation, 
and experience, that this cannot be true, because it is a matter of 
fact that the wicked are often prosperous in the world and 
through life, and hence infers that their judgment and punish¬ 
ment must be reserved for a future state. “ The wicked is re¬ 
served to the day of destruction,” and “ they shall be brought 
forth to the day of his wrath.” And inasmuch as his friends 
came to comfort him, but being in the dark on this fundamental 
point, had not been able to understand his case, and so could not 
afford him any comfort, but rather aggravated his grief. Job in¬ 
sisted upon it that he would still look to a future state for conso¬ 
lation, and rebukes them by exclaiming, in the bitterness of his 
soul, “ How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers 
there remaineth falsehood?” 

My present purpose is, to make some remarks upon the 
various methods employed in comforting anxious sinners, and I 
design. 

I. To notice briefly the necessity and design of instructing 
anxious sinners. 

II. To show that anxious sinners are always seeking com¬ 
fort. Their supreme object is to get comfort in their distress. 

III. To notice some of the false comforts often administered. 

I. The necessity and design of instructing anxious sinners. 

The very idea of anxiety implies some instruction. A sin¬ 
ner would not be anxious at all about his future state, unless he 


< 




308 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS 


had light enough to know that he is a sinner, and that, he is in 
danger of punishment and needs forgiveness. But men are to 
be converted, not by physical force, or by a change wrought in 
their nature or constitution by creative power, but by the truth, 
made effectual by the Holy Spirit. Conversion is yielding 
to the truth. And therefore, the more truth can be brought 
to bear on the mind, other things being equal , so much 
the more probable is it that the individual will be converted. 
Unless the truth is brought to bear upon him, it is certain 
he will not be converted. If it is brought to bear, it is not 
absolutely certain that it will be effectual, but the probability 
is in proportion to the extent to which the truth is brought to 
bear. The great design of dealing with an anxious sinner is to 
clear up all his difficulties and darkness, and do away all his 
errors, and sap the foundation of his self-righteous hopes, and 
sweep away every vestige of comfort that he could find in him¬ 
self. There is often much difficulty in this, and much instruc¬ 
tion is required. Sinners often cling with a death grasp to their 
false dependences. The last place to which a sinner ever be¬ 
takes himself for relief is to Jesus Christ. Sinners had rather 
be saved in any other way in the world. They had rather make 
any sacrifice, go to any expense, or endure any suffering, than 
just to throw themselves as guilty and lost rebels upon Christ 
alone for salvation. This is the very last way in which they 
are ever willing to be saved. It cuts up all their self-righteous¬ 
ness, and annihilates their pride and self-satisfaction so com¬ 
pletely, that they are exceedingly unwilling to adopt it. But it 
is as true in philosophy as it is in fact, that this is, after all, the 
only way in which a sinner coutd find relief. If God should 
attempt to relieve sinners, and save them without humbling their 
pride and turning them from their sins, he could not do it. Now 
the object of instructing an anxious sinner should be to lead him 
by the shortest possible way to do this. It is to bring his mind, 
by the shortest rout, to the practical conclusion, that there is, in 
fact, no other way in which he can be relieved and saved, but to 
renounce himself and rest in Christ alone. To do this with ef¬ 
fect, requires great skill. It requires a thorough knowledge of 
the human heart, a clear understanding of the plan of salvation, 
and a precise and definite idea of the very thing that a sinner 
MUST DO in order to be saved. To know how to do this 
effectually is one of the rarest qualifications in the ministry at 
the present day. It is distressing to see how few ministers, and 
how few professors of religion there are who have in their 
own minds that distinct idea of the thing to be done , that they 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


309 


can go to an anxious sinner, and tell him exactly what he has 
to do, and how to do it, and can show him clearly that there is 
no possible way for him to be saved, but by doing that very 
thing which they tell him, and can make him feel the certainty 
that he must do it, and that unless he does that very thing, he 
will be damned. 

II. I am to show that anxious sinners are always seeking 
comfort. 

Sinners often imagine they are seeking Jesus Christ , and seek¬ 
ing religion , hut this is a mistake. No person ever sought re¬ 
ligion, and yet remained irreligious. What is religion ? It is 
obeying God. Seeking religion is seeking to obey God. The 
soul that hungers and thirsts after righteousness is the soul of a 
Christian. To say that a person can seek to obey God, and yet 
not obey him, is absurd! For if he is seeking religion he is 
not an impenitent sinner. To seek religion , implies a will¬ 
ingness to obey God, and a willingness to obey God is reli¬ 
gion. It is a contradiction to say that an impenitent sinner 
is seeking religion. It is the same as to say, that he seeks and 
actually longs to obey God, and God will not let him, or that 
he longs to embrace Jesus Christ, -and Christ will not let him 
come. The fact is, the anxious sinner is seeking a hope, he is 
seeking pardon, and comfort, and deliverance from hell. He is 
anxiously looking for some one to comfort him, and make him 
feel better, without being obliged to conform to such humiliating 
conditions as those of the gospel. And his anxiety and distress 
continue, only because he will not yield to the terms. Unfor¬ 
tunately, anxious sinners find comforters enough to their liking. 
Miserable comforters they all are, too, “ seeing in their answers 
there remaineth falsehood.” No doubt, millions and millions 
are now in hell, because 'there were those around them who 
gave them false comfort, who had so much false pity, or were 
themselves so. much in the dark, that they would not let them 
remain in anxiety till they had submitted their hearts to God, 
but administered falsehood, and relieved their distress in this 
way, and now their souls are lost, 

III. I am to notice several of the ways in which false com¬ 
fort is given to anxious sinners. 

I might almost say, there is an endless variety of ways in 
which this is done. The more experience I have, and the more I 
observe the ways in which even good people deal with anxious 
sinners, the more I feel grieved at the endless fooleries and 
falsehoods with which they attempt to comfort their anxious 
friends, and thus, in fact, deceive them and beguile them out of 


310 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS, 


their salvation. It often reminds me of the manner in which 
people act when any one is sick. Let any one of you be sick, 
with almost any disease in the world, and you will find that 
every person you meet with has a remedy for that disorder, a 
certain cure, a specific, a panacea; and you will- find such a 
world of quackery all around you, that if you do not take care 
and SHUT IT ALL OUT, you will certainly lose your life, 
A man must exercise his own judgment, for he will find as 
many remedies as he has friends, and each one is tenacious of 
his own medicine, and perhaps will think hard if it is not taken. 
And no doubt this miserable system of quackery kills a great 
many people. 

This is true to no greater extent respecting the diseases of the 
body than respecting the diseases of the mind. People have 
their specifics and their catholicons and their panaceas to com¬ 
fort distressed souls, and whenever they begin to talk with an 
anxious sinner, they w’ill bring in their false comforts, so much 
that if he does not TAKE CARE, and mind the word of God, 
he will infallibly be deceived to his own destruction. I propose 
to mention a few of the falsehoods that ar„e often brought for¬ 
ward in attempting to comfort anxious sinners. Time would 
fail me, even to name them ail. 

The direct object of many persons is to comfort sinners, and 
they are often so intent upon this that they do not stick at means 
or kind of comfort. They see their friends distressed, and they 
pity them, they feel very compassionate, “ Oh, oh, I cannot bear 
to see them so distressed, I must comfort them somehow,” and 
so they try one way, and another, and all to comfort them! 
Now, God desires they should be comforted. He is benevolent, 
and has kind feelings, and his heart yearns over them, when he 
sees them so distressed. But he sees‘that there is only one way 
to give a sinner real comfort. He has more benevolence and 
compassion than all men, and wishes to comfort them. But he 
has fixed the terms as unyielding as his throne, on which he will 
give a sinner relief. And he will not alter. He knows that no¬ 
thing else will do the sinner effectual good, for nothing can make 
him happy, until he repents of his sins and forsakes them, and 
turns to God. And therefore God will not yield. Our object 
should be the same as that of God. We should feel compassion 
and benevolence, just as he does, and be as ready to give com¬ 
fort, but be sure that it be of the right kind. The fact is, our 
prime object should be, to induce the sinner to obey God. His 
comfort ought to be with us, and with him, but a secondary ob¬ 
ject, and while we are more anxious to relieve his distress 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


31 i 


dian to have him cease to abuse, and dishonor God, we are not 
likely, by our instructions,to do him any real good. This is a 
fundamental distinction, in dealing with anxious sinners, but it 
is evidently overlooked by many, who seem to have no higher 
motives, than sympathy or compassion for the sinner. If in 
preaching the gospel, or instructing the anxious, we are not ac¬ 
tuated by a high regard to the honor of God, and rise no higher, 
than to desire to relieve the distressed; this is going no farther 
than a constitutional sympathy, or compassion, would carry us. 
Overlooking this principle, has often misled professors of reli¬ 
gion, and when they have heard others dealing faithfully with 
anxious sinners, they have accused them of cruelty. I have 
often had professors bring anxious sinners to me, and beg me 
to comfort them, an-1, when I have probed their consciences to 
the quick, they have shuddered, and sometimes taken the sinners’ 
part. It is sometimes impossible to deal effectually with youth 
who are anxious, in the presence»of their parents, because they 
have so much more compassion for their children, than regard 
to the honor of God. This is all wrong, and with such views 
and feelings you had better hold your tongue, than to say any 
thing to the anxious. 

1. One of the ways in which people give false comfort to dis¬ 
tressed sinners, is, by asking them “ What have you done? you 
are not so bad.” They see them distressed, and cry out, “Why, 
what have you done?” as if they had never done anything wicked, 
and had in reality no occasion to feel distressed at all. I have 
before mentioned the case of a fashionable lady, who was awak¬ 
ened in this city, and was going to see a minister to converse 
with him, when she was met by a friend, who turned her back, 
and drove off her anxiety, by the cry, “ What have you done, 
to make you feel sri ? I am sure you have never committed any 
sin, that need to make you feel so.” 

I have often met with cases of this kind. A mother will tell 
her son, who is anxious, what an obedient child he has always 
been, how good and how kind, and she begs him not to take on 
so. So a husband will tell his wife, or a wife her husband, 
how good they are, and ask, “ What have you done ?” When 
they see them in great distress, they begin to comfort them, 
“ Why you are not so bad. You have been to hear that fright¬ 
ful minister, that frightens people, and you have got excited. 
Be comforted, for I am sure you have not been bad enough to 
feel so much distressed.” When the truth is, they have been a 
great deal worse than they think they have. No sinner ever 
had an idea that his sins were greater than they are. No sinner 


312 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


ever had an adequate idea of how great a sinner he is. It is 
not probable that any man could live under the full sight of his 
sins. God has, in mercy, spared all his creatures on earth that 
worst of sights, a naked human heart. The sinner’s guilt is much 
more deep and damning than he thinks, and his danger is much 
greater than he thinks it is, and if he. should see them as they 
are, probably he would not live a moment. A sinner may have 
some false notions on the subject, that creates distress, which 
have no foundation. He may think he has committed the un¬ 
pardonable sin, or that he has grieved away the Spirit, or sinned 
away his day of grace. But to tell the most moral and naturally 
amiable person in the world that he is good enough, or that he 
is not so bad as he thinks he is, is not giving him rational com¬ 
fort, but is deceiving him, and ruining his soul. Let those who 
do it, take care. 

2. Others tell awakened sinners that “Conversion is a 
progressive work,” and in this way ease their anxiety. When 
a man is distressed, because he sees himself to be such a sinner, 
and that unless he turns to God, he will be damned ; it is a great 
relief to have some friend hold out the idea that he can get 
better by degrees, and that he is now coming on, by little and 
little. They tell him, “ Why you cannot expect to get along all 
at once; I don’t believe in these sudden conversions, you must 
wait and let it work, you have begun well, and by and by you 
will get comfort.” All this is false as the bottomless pit. The 
truth is, Regeneration, or conversion, is not a progressive work. 
What is regeneration? What is it but the beginning of obedi¬ 
ence to God? And is the beginning of a thing progressive? 
It is the first act of genuine obedience to God—the first volun¬ 
tary action of the mind that is what God approves, or that can 
be regarded as obedience to God. That is conversion. When 
persons talk about conversion as a progressive work, it is ab¬ 
surd. They show that they hioio just as much about regenera¬ 
tion or conversion, as Nicodemus did. They know nothing 
about it, as they ought to know, and are no more fit to conduct 
an anxious meeting, or to advise or instruct anxious sinners, 
than Nicodemus was. 

3. Another way in which anxious sinners are deceived with 
false comfort, is by being advised to dismiss the subject for the 
•present. 

Men who are supposed to be wise and good, have assumed to 
be so much wiser than God, that when God is dealing with a 
sinner, by his Spirit, and endeavoring to bring him to an im¬ 
mediate decision; they think God is crowding too hard, and that 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


010 

olo 

it is necessary for them to interfere; and they will advise the 
person to take a ride, or go into company, or engage in busi¬ 
ness, or something that will relieve his mind a little, at least 
for the present. They might just as well say to God, in plain 
words, “ O God, you are too hard, you go too fast, y. u will 
make him crazy, or kill him, he can’t stand it, poor creatu.e, if 
he is so pressed, he will die.” Just so they take sides against 
God, and do the same as to tell the sinner himself, “ God will 
make you crazy if you do not dismiss the subject, and resist the 
Spirit, and drive him away from your mind.” 

Such advice, if it be truly conviction of sin that distresses the 
sinner, is in no case, either safe or lawful. The strivings of 
the Spirit, to bring a sinner to himself, will never hurt him, nor 
drive him crazy. He may make himself deranged by resisting, 
but it is blasphemous, to think, that the blessed, wise and be¬ 
nevolent Spirit of God, would ever conduct with so little care, as 
to derange and destroy the soul he came to sanctify and save. 
The proper course to take with a sinner, when the striving of 
the Spirit throws him into distress, is, to instruct him, to clear 
up his views, correct his mistakes, and make the way of salva¬ 
tion so plain that, he can see it right before him. Not to dis¬ 
miss the subject, but to fail in with the Spirit, and thus hush all 
those dreadful agonies which are produced by resisting the 
Holy Ghost. REMEMBER, if an awakened sinner volun¬ 
tarily dismiss the subject once, probably he will never take it 
up again. 

4. Sometimes an awakened sinner is comforted by being 
told that religion docs not co?isist in feeling bad. I once 
heard of a Doctor of Divinity, giving an anxious sinner such 
counsel, when he was actually writhing under the arrows of 
the Almighty. Said he, “Religion is cheerful, religion is not 
gloomy, don’t be distressed, be comforted, dismiss your fears, 
you should not feel so bad,” and such like miserable comforts, 
when, in fact, the man had infinite reason to be distressed, for he 
was resisting the Holy Ghost, and in danger of grieving 
him away for ever. 

It is true, religion does not consist in feeling bad. But the 
sinner has reason to be distressed, because he has no religion. 
If he had religion, he would not feel so. Were he a Christian, 
he would rejoice. But to tell an impenitent sinner to be cheer¬ 
ful ! why, you might as well preach this doctrine in hell, and 
fell them there, “ Cheer up here, cheer up, don’t feel so bad.” 

The sinner is on the very verge of hell, he is in rebellion 
against God, and his danger is infinitely greater than he ima* 

27 







314 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


gines. O, what a doctrine of devils! to tell a rebel against 
heaven not to be distressed. What is all his distress but rebel¬ 
lion itself? He is not comforted, because he refuses to be 
comforted. God is ready to comfort him. You need not think 
to be more compassionate than God. He will fill him with 
comfort, in an instant, if he will submit. But there he stands, 
struggling against God, and against the Holy Ghost, and 
against conscience, until he is distressed almost to death, and 
still he will not yield; and now some one comes in, “O, I hate 
to see you feel so bad, don’t be so distressed, cheer up, cheer 
up, religion don’t consist in being gloomy, be comforted.” 
Horrid ! 

5. Whatever involves the subject of religion in mystery, is 
calculated to give a sinner false comfort. 

When a sinner is anxious on the subject of religion, very 
often, if you becloud it in mystery, he will feel relieved. The 
sinner’s distress arises from the pressure of present obligation. 
Enlighten him on this point, and clear it up, and if he will not 
yield, it will only increase his distress. But tell him that 
regeneration is all a mystery, something he cannot understand; 
and leave him all in a fog of darkness, and you relieve his 
anxiety. It is his clear view of the nature and duty of repent¬ 
ance, that produces his distress. It is the light that brings agony 
to his mind, while he refuses to obey. It is that, which will 
make up the pains of hell. And it will almost make hell in the 
sinner’s breast here, if only made clear enough. But only cover 
up this light, and his anxiety will immediately become far less 
acute and thrilling. But if you lift up a certain and clear light, 
and flash it broad upon his soul, and if he will not yield, you 
kindle up to the tortures of hell in his bosom. 

6. Whatever relieves ike sinner from a sense of blame , is 
calculated to give him false comfort. 

The more a man feels himself to blame, the deeper is his dis¬ 
tress. But any thing that lessons his sense of blame, of course 
lessons his distress, but it is a comfort full of death. If any 
thing will help him divide the blame, and throw off a part of 
.t upon God, it will afford comfort, but it is a relief that will 
destroy his soul. 

7. To tell him of his inability, is false comfort. Tell an 
anxious sinner “What can you do? you are a poor feeble 
creature, you can do nothing.” You will make him feel a kind 
of despondency. But it is not that keen agony of remorse, with 
which God wrings the soul, when he is laboring to cut him 
down and bring him to repentance. 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


315 


If you tell him he is unable to comply with the gospel, he 
naturally falls in with it as a relief. He says to himself, “ Yes, 
I am unable, I am a poor feeble creature, I cannot do this, and 
certainly God cannot send me to hell for not doing what I can¬ 
not do,” Why, if I believed that the sinner was unable , I 
would tell him plainly, “ Don’t be afraid, you are not to blame 
for not complying with the call of the gospel: for you are una¬ 
ble, and God will never send you to hell for not doing what 
you have no strength to do. “ AVill not the Judge of all the 
earth do right ?” I know it is not common for those who talk 
about the sinner’s being unable, to be so consistent, and carry 
out their theory. But the sinner infers all this, and so he feels 
relieved. It is all false, and all the comfort derived from it, is 
only treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. 

8. Whatever makes the impression on a sinner’s mind that 
he is to be passive in religion , is calculated to give him false 
comfort. 

Give him the idea that he has nothing to do but to wait 
God’s time; tell him conversion is the work of God, and he 
ought to leave it to him; and that he must be careful, not to try 
to take the work out of God’s hand; and he will infer , as before, 
that he is not to blame, and will feel relieved. If he is only to 
hold still, and let God do the work, just as a man holds still to 
have his arm amputated, he feels relieved. But such instruc¬ 
tion as this, is all wrong. If the sinner is thus to hold still 
and let God do it, he instantly infers that he is not to blame for 
not doing it himself. And the inference is not only natural 
but legitimate, for he is not to blame. 

It is true that there is a sense in which conversion is the work 
of God. But it is false, as it is often represented. It is also 
true that there is a sense, in which conversion is the sinner’s 
own act. It is ridiculous, therefore, to say, that a sinner is pass¬ 
ive in regeneration, or passive in being converted, for conver¬ 
sion is his own act. The thing to be done is that which cannot 
be done for him. It is something which he must do, or it will 
never be done. 

9. Telling a sinner to wait God's time. 

Some years ago, I met a woman in Philadelphia, who was 
anxious about her soul, and had been a long time in that state. 
I conversed with her, and endeavored to learn her state. She 
told me a good many things, and finally said she knew she 
ought to be willing to wait on God as long as he had waited 
upon her. She said, God had waited on her a great many years, 
before she would give any attention to his calls, and now she 


316 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


believed it was her duty to wait God’s time to show mercy and 
convert her soul. And she said, this was the instruction she 
had received. She must be patient, and wait God’s time, and 
by and by he would give her relief. O amazing folly! 

Here is the sinner in rebellion. God comes with pardon in 
one hand, and a sword in the other, and tells the sinner to re¬ 
pent and receive pardon, or refuse and perish. And now here 
comes a minister of the gospel, and tells the sinner to “ wait 
God’s time.” Virtually he says, that God is not ready to have 
him repent now , and is not ready to pardon him now , and thus, 
in fact, throws off the blame of his impenitence upon God. In¬ 
stead of pointing out the sinner's guilt, in not submitting at 
once to God, he points out God's insincerity in making the 
offer, when, in fact, he was not ready to grant the blessing. 

I have often thought such teachers needed the rebuke of Eli¬ 
jah when he met the priests of Baal. “ Cry aloud, for he is a 
God; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a jour¬ 
ney ; or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” The 
minister who ventures to intimate that God is not ready, and 
that tells the sinner to wait God’s time, might almost as well 
tell him, that now God is asleep, or gone on a journey, and can¬ 
not attend to him at present. Miserable comforters indeed ! It 
is little less than outrageous blasphemy of God. How many 
have gone to the judgment, red all over with the blood of souls, 
that they have deceived and destroyed, by telling them God was 
not ready to save them, and they must wait God’s time. No 
doubt, such a doctrine is exceedingly calculated to afford pre¬ 
sent relief to an anxious sinner. It warrants him to say, “ O, 
yes, God is not ready, I must wait God’s time, and so I can 
live in sin, and take it out a while longer, till he gets ready to 
attend to me, and then I will get religion.” 

10. It is false comfort to tell an anxious sinner to do any 
thing for relief, which he can do , and'not submit his heart to 
God. 

An anxious sinner is often willing to do any thing else, but 
the very thing which God requires him to do. He is willing 
to go to the ends'of the earth, or to pay his money, or to endure 
suffering, or any thing, but full and instantaneous submission 
to God. Now, if you will compromise the matter with him, and 
tell him of something else that he may do, and yet evade that 
•point, he will be very much comforted. He likes that instruc 
tion. He says, “ O, yes, I will do that, I like that minister, he 
is not so severe as others, he seems to understand my particular 
case, and knows how to make allowances.” 


false comforts for sinners. 


317 


tt often reminds me of the conduct of a patient, who is very 
sick, but has a great dislike for a certain physician and a parti¬ 
cular medicine, but that is the very physician, who, alone under¬ 
stands treating his disease, and that the only remedy for it. Now 
the patient is willing to do any thing else, and call in any other 
physician; and he is anxious and in distress, and is asking all 
his friends if they can’t tell him what he shall do, and he will 
take all the nostrums and quack medicines in the country, be¬ 
fore he will submit to the only course that can bring him relief. 
By and by, after he has tried every thing without any benefit, if 
he does not die in the experiment, he gives up his unreasonable 
opposition, calls in the physician, takes the proper medicine, and 
is cured. Just so it is with sinners. They will eagerly do any 
thing, if you will let them off from this intolerable pressure of 
present obligation to submit to God. I will mention a few of 
the things which sinners are told to do. 

(1.) Telling a sinner he must^sc the means. Tell an anxious 
sinner this—You must use the means, and he is relieved. “ O, 
yes, I will do that, if that is all. I thought that God required 
me to repent and submit to him now. But if using the means will 
answer, I will do that with all my heart.” He was distressed 
before, because he was cornered up, and did not know which 
way to turn. Conscience had beset him, like a wall of fire, and 
urged him to repent now. But this relieves him at once, and he 
feels better, and is very thankful, he says, that he found such a 
good adviser in his distress. But he may use the means, as he 
calls it, till the day of judgment, and not be a particle the better for 
it, but will only hasten his way to death. What is the sinner’s 
use of means, but rebellion against God ? God uses means. 
The church uses means, to convert and save sinners, to bear 
down upon them, and bring them to submission. But what has 
the sinner to do with using means? Will you set him to use 
means back upon God, and so make an offset in the matter? Or 
is he to use means to make himself submit to God ? How shall 
he go to work with his means to make himself submit? It is 
just telling the sinner, “ You need not submit to God now, but 
just use the means awhile, and see if you cannot melt God’s 
heart down to you, so that he will yield this point of uncondi¬ 
tional submission.” It is a mere cavil, to evade the duly of im¬ 
mediate submission to God. It is true, that sinners, actuated by 
a regard to their own happiness, often give attention to the sub¬ 
ject of religion, attend meetings, and pray, and read, and many 
such things. But in all this, they have no regard to the honor 
of God, nor do they so much as mean to obey him. Their 

27* 


318 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


design, is not obedience, for if it were, they would not be impen¬ 
itent sinners. Tney are not, therefore, using means to he Chris¬ 
tians, but to obtain pardon, and a hope. It is absurd to say, 
that an impenitent sinner is using means to repent, for this is 
the same as to say, that he is willing to repent, or in other words, 
that he does repent, and is not an impenitent sinner. So, to say 
that an unconverted sinner uses means with design to become a 
Christian, is a contradiction, for it is saying, that he is willing to 
be a Christian, which is the same as to say, that he is a Christian 
already. 

(2.) Telling the sinner to 'pray for a neio heart. I once 
heard a celebrated Sunday-school teacher do this. He was al¬ 
most the father of Sunday-schools in this country. He called a 
little girl up to him, and began to talk to her. “ My little 
daughter, are you a Christian?” No, Sir. “ Well, you cannot 
be a Christian yourself, can you?” No, Sir. “ No, you can¬ 
not be a Christian, you cannot change your heart yourself, but 
you must pray for a new heart, that is all you can do, pray to 
'God, God wiil give you a new heart.” He was an aged and 
venerable man, but I felt almost disposed to rebuke him openly 
in the name of the Lord, I could not bear to hear him deceive 
that child, telling her she could not be a Christian. Does God 
say “ Pray for a new heart ?” Never. He says, “ Make you 
a new heart.” And the sinner is not to be told to pray to God to 
do his duty for him, but to go and do it himself. 1 know the 
Psalmist, a good man , prayed. “ Create in me a clean heart, 
and renew a right spirit within me.” He had faith and prayed 
in faith. But that is a very different thing from setting an obsti¬ 
nate rebel to pray for a new heart. No doubt, an anxious sin¬ 
ner will be delighted with such instruction. “ Why, I knew I 
needed a new heart, and that I ought to repent, but I thought I 
must do it myself, I am very willing to ask God to do it, I hated 
to do it myself, but have no objection that God should do it, if 
he will, and I will pray for it, if that is all that is required.” 

(3.) Telling the sinner to persevere. And suppose he does 
persevere. He is as certain to be damned as if he had been in 
hell ever since the foundation of the world. His anxiety arises 
only from his resistance, and if he would submit, it would cease. 
And now, will you tell him to persevere in the very thing that 
causes his distress? Suppose my child should, in a fit of pas¬ 
sion, throw a book or something on the floor. I tell him “ Take 
it up,” and instead of minding what I say, he runs off and plays. 
41 Take it up!” He sees I am in earnest, and begins to look 
serious. “ Take it up, or I shall get a rod.” And I put up my 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


319 


arm to get the rod. He stands still. “ Take it up, or you 
must be whipped.” He comes slowly along to the place, and 
then begins to weep. “ Take it up my child, or you will cer¬ 
tainly be punished.” Now he is in distress, and sobs and sighs 
as if his bosom would burst, but still remains as stubborn as if 
he knew I could not punish him. Now I begin to press him 
with motives to submit and obey, but there he stands, in agony, 
and at length bursts out, “ O, father I do feel so bad, I think I 
am growing better.” And now, suppose a neighbor to come in 
and see the child standing there, in all this agony of stubborn¬ 
ness. The neighbor asks him what he is standing there for, 
and what he is doing. “ O, I am using means to pick up that 
book.” If this neighbor should tell the child, “ Persevere, per¬ 
severe, my boy, you will get it by and by,” What should I do ? 
Why I would turn him out of the house. What does he mean, 
by encouraging my child in his rebellion. 

Now, God calls the sinner to repent, he threatens him, he 
draws the glittering sword, he persuades him, he uses motives, 
and the sinner is distressed to agony, for he sees himself driven 
to the dreadful alternative of giving up his sins or going to hell. 
He ought instantly to lay down his weapons, and break his 
heart at once. But he resists, and struggles against conviction, 
and that creates his distress. Now will you tell him to perse¬ 
vere? Persevere in what? In struggling against God! That 
is just the direction the devil would give. All the devil wants 
is to see him persevere in just the- way he is going on, and his 
destruction is sure. Satan may go to sleep. 

(4.) Telling the sinner to press forward. That is, “ You are 
in a good way, only press forward, and you will get to heaven.” 
This is on the supposition that his face is towards heaven, when 
in fact his face is towards hell, and he is pressing forward, and 
never more rapidly than now, while he is resisting the Holy 
Ghost. Often have I heard this direction given, when the sin¬ 
ner was in as bad a way as he could be. What you ought to 
tell him is, “ STOP—sinner, stop, do not take another step that 
way, it leads to hell.” God tells him to stop, and because he 
does not wish to stop, he is distressed. Now, why should you 
attempt to comfort him in this way ? 

(5.) Tell a sinner that he must try to repent , and give his 
heart to God. “ O, yes,” says the sinner, “ I am willing to try, 
I have often tried to do it, and I will try again.” Ah, does God 
tell you to try to*repent? All the world would be willing to try 
to repent, in their way. Giving this direction implies that it is 
very difficult to repent, and perhaps impossible, and that the 


320 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


best thing a sinner can do, is to try, and see whether he can do 
it or not. What is this, but substituting your own command¬ 
ment in the place of God’s. God requires nothing short of re¬ 
pentance and a holy heart. Any thing short of that, is comfort¬ 
ing him in vain, “seeing in your answers there remainelh 
falsehood.” 

(6.) To tell him to pray for repentance. “O yes I will pray 
for repentance, if that is all. I was distressed because I thought 
God required me to repent, but if he will do it, I can wait. 7 And 
so he feels relieved, and is quite comfortable. 

(7.) To tell a sinner to pray for conviction , or / v ay for the 
Holy Ghost to show him his sins, or to labor to pn more light 
on the subject of his guilt, in order to increase !a:s conviction. 

All this is just what the sinner wants, beca use it lets him of! 
from the pressure of present obligation. ID wants just a little 
more time. Any thing that will defer that present pressure of 
obligation to repent immediately, is a relief. What does he 
want more conviction for ? Does God give any such direction 
to an impenitent sinner? God takes it for granted that he has 
conviction enough already. And so he has. Do you say, he 
cannot realize all his sins? If he can realize only one of them, 
let him repent of that one, and he is a Christian. Suppose he 
could see them all, what reason is there to think he would re¬ 
pent of them all, any more than that he would repent of that one 
that he does see? All this is comforting the sinner by setting 
him to do that which he can do, and still not submit his heart to 
God. 

11. Another way in which false comfort is given to anxious 
sinners, is to tell them God is trying their faith by keeping 
them in the furnace, and they must wait patiently upon the 
Lord. Just as if God was in fault, or stood in the way, of , his 
being a Christian. Or as if an impenitent sinner had faith! 
What an abomination! Suppose somebody should tell my child, 
while he was standing by the boolc, as I have described, “ Wait 
patiently, boy, your father is trying your faith.” No. The 
sinner is trying the patience and forbearance of God. God is 
not setting himself to torture a sinner, and teach him a lesson of 
patience. But he is waiting upon him, and laboring to bring 
him at once into such a state of mind as will render it consistent 
to fill his soul with the peace of heaven. And shall the sinner 
be encouraged to resist by the idea that God is bantering? 
TAKE CARE. God has said his Spirit shall not always strive. 

12. Another false comfort is telling a sinner, Do your duty, 
and leave your conversion with God. 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


321 


I once heard an elder of a church say to an anxious sinner, 

P° y our du ty, and leave your conversion to God, he will do 
it in his own time and way/’ That was just the same as telling 
him, that it was not his duty to be converted now. He did not 
say, Do your duty, and leave your salvation with God. That 
would have been proper enough, for it would have been simply 
telling him to submit to God, and would have included conver¬ 
sion as the first duty of all. But he told him to leave his con¬ 
version to God. And this elder, that gave such advice, was a 
man of liberal education too. How absurd ! Just as if he could 
do his duty and not be converted. Just as if God was going to 
convert a sinner and let the sinner sit calmly under it in the use 
of means. Horrible ! No. God has required him to make him 
a new heart, and do you beware how you comfort him with an 
answer of falsehood. 

13. Sometimes professors of religion will try to comfort a sin¬ 
ner, by telling him, 11 Do not be discouraged; I was a longtime 
in this way before I found comfort.” They will tell him “I 
was under conviction so many w r eeks—or perhaps so many 
months, or sometimes years, and have gone through with all 
this, and know" just how you feel, your experience is the same 
with mine, precisely, and after so long a time I found relief, and 
I don’t doubt you will find it, by and by. Don’t despair, God 
will comfort vou soon.” Tell a sinner to take courage in his 
rebellion ! O, horrible. Such professors ought to be ashamed. 
Suppose you were under conviction so many w r eeks, and after¬ 
wards found relief, it is the very last thing you ought to tell to 
an anxious sinner. What is it but encouraging him to hold on, 
when his business is to submit. Did you hold out so many 
weeks while the Spirit w-as striving w r ith you. You only de¬ 
served so much the more to be damned, for your obstinacy and 
stupidity. 

Sinner ! it is no sign God will spare you so long, or that his 
Spirit will remain w r ith you to be resisted. And remember, if 
the Spirit is taken away, you will be sent to hell. 

14. “ I have faith to believe you will be converted.” 

You have faith to believe! On what does your faith rest? 
On the promise of God ? On the influences of the Holy Ghost 1 
Then you are counteracting your own faith. The very design 
and object of the Spirit of God, is, to tear away from the sinner, his 
last vestige of a hope, while remaining in sin ; to annihilate every 
crag and twig he may cling to. And the object of your instruc¬ 
tion should be the same. You should fall in with the plan of 
God. It is only in this way, that you can ever do any good, by 


322 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


crowding him right up to the work, to submit at once and leave 
his soul in the hands of God. But when one that he thinks is 
a Christian, tells him, “ I have faith to believe you will be con¬ 
verted,” it upholds him in his false expectation. Instead of 
tearing him away from his false hopes, and throwing him upon 
Christ, you just turn him off to hang upon your faith, and find 
comfort because you have faith for him. This is all false com¬ 
fort, that worketh death. 

15. “I will pray for you.” Sometimes professors of religion 
try to comfort an anxious sinner in this way, by telling him, “ I 
will pray for you.” This is false comfort, for it leads the sinner 
to trust in those prayers, instead of trusting in Christ. The 
sinner says, “ He is a good man, and God hears the prayers 
of good men, no doubt his prayers will prevail some time, 
and I shall b© converted, I don’t think I shall be lost.” And 
his anxiety, -his agony, is all gone. A woman said to a minis¬ 
ter, “ I have no hope now, but I have faith in your prayers.” 
Just such faith, this is, as the devil wants them to have—faith in 
prayers instead of faith in Christ. 

16. “I rejoice to see you in this way, and I hope you will be 
faithful^ and hold out.” What is that but rejoicing to see him 
in rebellion against God? For that is precisely the ground on 
which he stands. He is resisting conviction, and resisting con¬ 
science, and resisting the Holy Ghost, and yet you rejoice to 
see him in this way, and hope he will be faithful and hold out. 
There is a sense, indeed, in which it may be said that his situa¬ 
tion is more hopeful than when he was in stupidity. For God 
has convinced him, and may succeed in turning and subduing 
him. But that is not the sense in which the sinner himself will 
understand it. He will suppose that you think him in a hope¬ 
ful way, because he is doing better than formerly. When his 
guilt and danger are, in fact, greater than they ever were before. 
And instead of rejoicing, you ought to be distressed and in 
agony, to see him thus resisting the Holy Ghost, for every mo¬ 
ment he does this, he is in danger of being left of God, and 
given up to hardness of heart and to despair. 

17. “ You will have your pay for this, by and by, God will 
reward you.” Yes, sinner, God will reward you, if you con¬ 
tinue in this way, he will put you in the fires of hell. Reward 
for all this distress! Yes, if you are ever rewarded for it, it 
will be in hell. I once heard a sinner say, “ I feel very bad, I 
have strong hopes that I shall get my reward.” But that indi¬ 
vidual afterwards said, “ Nowhere can there be found so black 
a sinner as I am, and no sin of my life seems so black, and 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


323 


damning as that expression.” He was overwhelmed with 
contrition, that he should ever have had such an idea, as 
to think God would reward him for suffering so much distress, 
when he brought it all upon himself, needlessly, by his wicked 
resistance to the truth. The truth is, what such people want, is 
to comfort the sinner, and being all in the dark themselves on 
the subject of religion, they of course give him false comfort. 

18. Another false comfort, is to tell the sinner he has not re¬ 
pented enough. The truth is, he has not repented at all. God 
always comforts the sinner as soon as he repents. This direc¬ 
tion implies that his feelings are right as far as they go. To 
imply that he has any repentance, is to tell him a lie, and cheat 
him out of his soul. 

19. People sometimes comfort a sinner by telling him “ If 
you are elected, you will be brought in.” I once heard of a 
case where a person under great distress of mind, was sent to 
converse with a neighboring minister. They conversed a long 
time. As the person went away, the minister said to him, “ I 
should like to write a line by you, to your father.” His father 
was a pious man. The minister wrote the letter, and forgot to 
seal it. As the sinner was going home, he saw that the letter 
was not sealed, and he thought to himself, that probably the 
minister had written about him, and his curiosity at length led 
him to open and read it. And there he found it written to this 
purport: “ Dear Sir, I find your son under conviction, and in 
great distress, and it seems not easy to say any thing to give 
him relief. But, if he is one of the elect, he will surely be 
brought in.” He wanted to say something to comfort the father. 
But now, mark. That letter had well-nigh ruined his soul He 
settled down on the doctrine of election ; “ If I am elected, I 
shall be brought in,” and his conviction was all gone. Years 
afterwards he was awakened and converted, but only after a 
great struggle, and never until that false impression was ob¬ 
literated from his mind, and he was made to see that he had no¬ 
thing at all to do with the doctrine of election, but if he did not 
repent, he would be damned. 

20. It is very common for some people to tell an awakened 
sinner, “ You are in a very prosperous way, I am glad to see 
you so, and feel encouraged about you.” It sometimes seems, 
as if the church was in league with the devil, to help sinners re¬ 
sist the Holy Ghost. The thing that the Holy Ghost wants to 
make the sinner feel, is, that all his ways are wrong, and that 
they lead to hell. And every body is conspiring to make the 
opposite impression. The Spirit is trying to discourage him, 


324 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


and they are trying to encourage him; the Spirit to distress, by 
showing him he is all wrong, and they to comfort him by saying 
he is doing well. Has it come to this, that the worst counter¬ 
action to the truth, and the greatest obstacle to the Spirit, shall 
spring from the church? Sinner! Do not believe any such 
thing. You are not in a hopeful way. You are not doing well, 
but ill; as ill as you can, while resisting the Holy Ghost. 

21. Another very fatal way, in which false comfort is given 
to sinners, is bj' applying to them certain scripture promises 
which were designed only for saints. This is a grand device 
of the devil. It is much practised by the Universalists. But 
Christians often do it. For example: 

(1.) “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be com¬ 
forted.” How often has this passage been applied to anxious 
sinners, who were in distress because they would not submit to 
God; blessed are ye that mourn. Indeed! That is true, where 
they mourn with godly sorrow. But what is this sinner mourn¬ 
ing about? He is mourning because God r s law' is holy 
and his terms of salvation so fixed that he cannot bring them 
down to his mind. Tell such a rebel—Blessed are they that 
mourn ! You might just as well apply it to those that are in 
hell. There is mourning there too. The sinner is mournin" 
because there is no other way of salvation, because God is so 
holy that he requires him to give up all his sins, and he feels, 
that the time has come, that he must either give them up, or bo 
damned. Shall we tell him, he shall be comforted? Go and tell 
the devil, “ Poor devil, you mourn now, but the Bible says you 
are blessed if you mourn, and you shall be comforted by and by.” 

(2.) “ They that seek shall find.” This is said to sinners in 
such a way, as to imply that the anxious sinner is seeking reli¬ 
gion. This promise was made in reference to Christians, who 
ask in faith, and seek to do the will of God, and is not applicable 
to those who are seeking hope or comfort; but to holy seeking. 
To apply it to an impenitent sinner, is only to deceive him, for 
his seeking is not of this character. To tell him “ You are 
seeking, are you? Well, seek, and you shall find,” is to 
cherish a fatal delusion. While he remains impenitent, he 
has not a desire, which the devil might not have, and remain a 
devil still. 

If he had desire to do his duty, if he was seeking to do the 
will of God, and give up his sins, he would be a Christian. But 
to comfort an impenitent sinner, with such a promise, you might 
just as well comfort Satan. 

(3.) “ Be not weary in well doing, for in due time you shall 



FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


325 


reap if you faint not.” To apply this to a sinner for comfort, is 
absurd. Just as if he was doing 1 something to please God. He 
has never done well, and never has done more ill, than now. 
Suppose my neighbor, who came in while I was trying to sub¬ 
due my child, should say to the child, “ In due time you shall 
reap, if you faint not,” what should 1 say? “Reap, yes, you 
shall reap, if you do not give up your obstinacy, you shall reap 
indeed, for I will apply the rod.” So the struggling sinner shall 
reap the damnation of hell, if he does not give up his sins. 

22. Some professors of religion, wheri they attempt to con¬ 
verse with awakened sinners, are very fond of saying, “ I will 
tell you my experience.” This is a dangerous snare, and often 
gives the devil a handle to lead him to hell, by trying to copy 
your experiehce. If you t$ll it to him, and he thinks it is a Chris¬ 
tian experience, he will almost infallibly be trying to imitate it, 
and instead of following the gospel, or the leadings of the Spi¬ 
rit in his own soul, he is following your example. This is ab¬ 
surd as well as dangerous. He never will have just such feel¬ 
ings as you had. No two persons were ever exercised just alike. 
Men’s experiences are as much unlike as their countenances. 
Such a course is very likely to mislead him. The design, is 
'often, nothing, but to encourage him, at the very point where he 
ought not to be encouraged, before he has submitted to God. 
And it is calculated to impede the work of God in his soul. 

23. How many times will people tell an awakened sinner 
that God has begun a good work in him, and he will carry it 
on. I have known parents talk so with their children, and as 
soon as they saw their children awakened, give up all former 
anxiety about them, and settle down at their ease, thinking that 
now God had begun a good work in their children, he would 
carry it on. It would be just as rational for a farmer to say so 
about his grain, and as soon as it comes up out of the ground, 
say, “ Well, God has begun a good work in my field, and he 
will carry it on.” What would be thought of a farmer who 
should neglect to put up his fence, because God had begun the 
work of giving him a crop of grain? If you.tell a sinner so, 
and he believes you, it will certainly be his destruction, for it 
will prevent his doing that which is absolutely indispensable to 
his being saved. If, as soon as the sinner is awakened, he is 
taught that now God has begun a good work, that only needs to 
be carried on, and that God will surely carry it on, he sees that 
he has no further occasion to be anxious, for, in fact, he has no¬ 
thing more to do. And so he will be relieved from that intoler¬ 
able pressure of present obligation, to repent and submit to God. 

* 28 


326 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


And if he is relieved from his sense of obligation to do it, he 
will never do it. 

24. Some will tell the sinner, “ Well, you have broken off 

your sins, have you ?” “ O, yes,” says the sinner. When it is 

all false, he has never forsaken his sins for a moment, he has 
only exchanged one form of sin for another; only placed him¬ 
self in a new attitude of resistance. ’ And to tell him, he has bro¬ 
ken them off is to give him false comfort. 

25. Sometimes this direction is given for the purpose of re¬ 
lieving the agony of an anxious sinner, “ Do what you can, and 
God will do the rest,” or “ Do what you can, and God will help 
you.*’' This is the same as telling a sinner, “You can’t do 
what God requires you to do, but if you will do what you can, 
God will help you, as to the rest.” Now sinners often get the 
idea that they have done all they can, when, in fact, they have, 
done nothing at all, only resisted God with all their might'. I 
have often heard them say, “ I have done all I can, and I get no 
relief, what can I*do more ?” Now, you can see how comforting it 
must be to such a one to have a professor of religion come in 
and say, “ If you -will do what you can, God will help you.” 
It relieves all his keen distress at once. He may be uneasjr, 
and unhappy, but his agony is gone. 

26. Again they say, “ You should be thankful for what you 
have, and-hope for more.” If the sinner is convicted, they tell 
him he should be thankful for conviction, and hope for conver¬ 
sion. If he has any feeling, he should be thankful for what 
feeling he has, just as if his feeling was religious feeling, when 
he has no more religion, than Satan. He has reason to be 
thankful, indeed ; thankful that he is out of hell, and thankful 
that God is yet waiting on him. But it is ridiculous to tell him 
he should be thankful in regard to the'State of his mind, when 
he is all the while resisting his Maker with all his might. 

ERRORS IN PRAYING FOR SINNERS. 

I will here mention a few errors in praying for sinners in 
their presence, by which an unhappy impression is made on 
their minds, in consequence of which, they often obtain false 
comfort in their distress. 

1. People sometimes pray for sinners, as if they deserved to 
ee pitied more than blamed. They pray for them as mourn¬ 
ers, “ Lord help these pensive mourners,” as if they were 
just mourning, like one that had lost a friend, or met some other 
calamity, and they could not help it, and were very sorry for it, 
but death would come, and so they were greatly to be pitied, as 





FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


327 


they were sitting there, sad, pensive, and sighing. The Bible 
never talks so. It pities sinners, but it pities them as mad and 
guilty rebels, guilty, and deserving to go to hell, not as poor 
pensive mourners, that can’t help it, that want to be relieved, 
but can do nothing but sit and mourn. 

~. Braying for them as ■'poor shiners. Does the Bible ever 
use any such language as this? The Bible never speaks of 
them as “ poor sinners,” as if they deserved to be pitied more 
than blamed. Christ pities sinners in his heart. And so does 
God pity them. He feels, in his heart, all the gushings of com¬ 
passion for them, when he secs them going on', obstinate and 
wilful in gratifying their own lusts, at the peril of his eternal 
wrath. But he never lets an expression escape from him, as if 
the sinner was just a “ poor creature” to be pitied, as if he co.uld 
not help it. The idea that he is poor, rather than wicked, un¬ 
fortunate, rather than guilty, relieves the sinner greatly. I have 
seen the sinner writhe with agony under the truth, in a meet¬ 
ing, until somebody begun to pray for him as a poor creature. 
And then he would gush out into tears, and weep profusely, and 
think he was greatly benefited by such a prayer. “ O, what a 
good prayer that was.” If you go now and converse with that 
sinner, you will find he is pitying himself as a poor unfortunate 
creature, perhaps weeping over his unhappy condition, but his 
convictions of sin, his deep impressions of awful guilt, 
are all gone. 

3. Praying that God w r ould help the sinner to repent. “ O 
Lord, enable this poor sinner to repent now” This conveys 
the idea to the sinner’s mind, that he is now trying with all his 
might to repent, and that he cannot do it, and therefore Chris¬ 
tians are calling on God to help him, and enable him to do it. 
Most professors of religion pray for sinners, not that God would 
make them willing to repent, but that he would enable them, 
or make them able. No wonder their prayers are not heard. 
They relieve the sinner of his sense of responsibility, and that 
relieves his distress. But it is an insult to God, as if God had 
commanded a sinner to do what he could not do. 

4. People sometimes pray, “ Lord, these sinners are seeking 
thee , sorrowing .” This language is an allusion to what took 
place at the time when Jesus was a little boy, and went into the 
temple to talk with the rabbies and doctors. His parents, you 
recollect, went a day’s journey towards home, before they missed 
him, and then they turned back, and after looking all around, 
they found the little Jesus standing in the temple and disputing 
with the learned men, and his mother said to him, “Son, why 


328 


FALES COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


hast thou thus dealt with us ? behold, thy father and I have 
sought thee sorrowing .” And so this prayer represents sinners 
as seeking Jesus, and he hides himself from them, and they look 
all around, and hunt, and try to find him, and wonder where 
Jesus is, and say, “ Lord, we have sought Jesus these three 
days, sorrowing.” It is a LIE. No sinner ever sought Jesus 
with all his heart three days, or three minutes, and, could not 
find him. There Jesus stands at his door and knocks, there he 
is right before him pleading with him, and facing him down 
with all his false pretences. Seeking him ! The sinner may 
whine and cry, “ O, how I am sorrowing, and seeking Jesus.” 
It is no such thing; Jesus is seeking you. And yet how many 
oppressed consciences are relieved and comforted by hearing one 
of these prayers. 

5. “ Lord, have mercy on these sinners, who are seeking thy 
love to know” This is a favorite expression with many, as if 
sinners were seeking to know the love of Christ, and could not. 
No such thing. They are not seeking the love of Christ, but 
seeking to get to heaven without Jesus Christ. Just as if they 
were seeking it, and he was so hard-hearted that he would not 
let them have it. 

6. “ Lord, have mercy on these penitent souls calling 
anxious sinners penitent souls. If they are penitent, they are 
Christians. To make an impression on an unconverted sinner 
that he is penitent, is to make him believe a lie. But it is very 
comforting to the sinner, and he likes to take it up, and pray it 
over again, “O Lord, I am a poor penitent soul, I am very 
penitent, I am so distressed, Lord have mercy on a poor peni¬ 
tent.” Dreadful delusion! 

7. Sometimes people pray for anxious sinners as humble souls. 
“ O Lord, these sinners have humbled themselves.” Why, that 
is not true, they have not humbled themselves; if they had, 
the Lord would have raised them up and comforted them, as he 
has promised. There is a hymn of this character, that has 
done great mischief. It begins, 

“Come humble sinner in whose breast 
A thousand thoughts revolve.” 

This hymn was once given by a minister to an awakened sin¬ 
ner, as one applicable to his case. He began to read, “ Come 
humble sinner.” He'stopped, “ Humble sinner, that is not ap¬ 
plicable to me, I am not a humble sinner.” Ah, how well was 
it for him that the Holy Ghost hafi taught him better than the 
hymn. If the hymn had said, Come anxious sinner, or guilty 
sinner* or trembling sinner, it would have been well enough, 



FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS 


329 


but to call him a humble sinner would not do. There are a 
vast many hymns of the same character. It is very common to 
find sinners quoting the false sentiments of some hymn, to ex¬ 
cuse themselves in rebellion against God. 

A minister told me he heard a prayer, quite lately, in these 
words, “ O Lord, these sinners have humbled themselves, and 
come to thee as well as they know how. If they knew any 
better, they would do better, but O Lord, as they have come to 
thee, in the best manner they can, we pray thee accept them and 
shew mercy.” Horrible! 

8. Many pray, “ Father, forgive them, they know not what 
they do.” This is the prayer which Christ made for his mur¬ 
derers. And, in that case, it was true, they did not know what 
they were doing, for they did not believe that Jesus Christ was 
the Messiah. But it cannot be said of sinners under the gospel, 
they do not know what they are doing. They do know what 
they are doing. They do not see the full extent of it, but they 
do know that they are sinning against God, and rejecting Christ, 
and the difficulty is, that they are unwilling to submit to God. 
But such a prayer is calculated to make him feel relieved, and 
make him say, “ Lord, how can you blame me so, I am a poor 
Ignorant creature, I don't know how to do what is required of 
me. If I knew how, I would do it.” 

9. Another expression is, “ Lord, direct these sinners, who 
are inquiring the way to Zion, with their faces thitherward.” 
But this language, is only applicable to Christians. Sinners 
have not their faces towards Zion, their faces are set toward 
hell. And how can a sinner be said to be “ inquiring the way” 
to Zion, when he has no disposition to go there. The real dif¬ 
ficulty is, that he is unwilling to WALK in the \Vay in which 
he knows he ought to go. 

10. People pray that sinners may have more conviction. Or, 

they pray that sinners may go home solemn and tender, and 
take the subject into consideration, instead of praying that they 
may regent now. Or, they pray as if they supposed the sinner 
was willing to do what is required. All such prayers, are just 
such prayers, as the devil wants. He wishes to have such 
prayers, and I dare say he does not care how many such are 
offered. . 

Sometimes I have seen in an anxious meeting, or when sin¬ 
ners have been called to the anxious seats, and the minister has 
made the way of salvation all plain to them, and taken away 
all the stumbling blocks out of their path, and removed the 
darkness of their minds on the several points, and when they 

28* 


330 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


are just ready to yield, some one will be called on to pray, and 
instead of praying that they may repent now , he begins to pray, 
“O Lord, we pray, that these sinners may be solemn, that they 
may have a deep sense of their sinfulness, that they may go 
home impressed with their lost condition, that they may attempt 
nothing in their own strength, that they may not lose their con¬ 
victions, and that, in thine own time and way, they may be 
brought out into the glorious light and liberty of the sons of 
God.” 

Instead of bringing them right up to the point of immediate 
submission, on the spot, it gives them time to breathe, it lets off 
all the pressure of conviction, and he breathes freely again and 
feels relieved, and sits down at his ease. Thus, when the sin¬ 
ner is brought up, as it were, and stands at the gate of heaven, 
such a prayer, instead of pushing him in, sets him away back 
again,—“ There, poor thing, sit there till God helps you.” 

11. Christians sometimes pray in such a manner as to make 
the impression that Christ is the sinner’s friend, in a dif¬ 
ferent sense from what God the Father is. They pray to him, 
“ O, thou friend of sinners,” as if God was full of wrath, and 
stern vengeance, just going to crush the poor wretch, till Jesus 
Christ comes in and takes his part, and delivers him. Now 
this is all wrong. The Father and the Son are perfectly agreed, 
their feelings are all the same, and both are equally disposed to 
have sinners saved. And to make such an impression, deceives 
the sinner, and leads to wrong feelings towards Qod. To rep¬ 
resent God the Father as standing over him, with the sword of 
justice in his hand, eager to strike the blow, till Christ inter¬ 
poses, is not true. The Father is as much the sinner’s friend as 
the Son. His compassion is equal. But if the sinner gets this 
unfavorable idea of God the Father, how is he ever to love him 
with all his heart, so as to say “ Abba, Father.” 

12. The impression is often made by the manner of praying, 
that you do not expect sinners to repent now, or that you expect 
God to do their duty, or that you wish to encourage them to 
trust in your prayers. And so, sinners are ruined. Never 
pray so as to make the impression on sinners, that you secretly 
hope they are Christians already, or that you feel a strong con¬ 
fidence they will be, by and by, or that you half believe they 
are converted now. This is always unhappy. Multitudes are 
deceived with false comfort, in this way, and prevented, just at 
the critical point, from making the final surrender of themselves 
to God. 

Brethren, I find this field so broad that I cannot possibly men- 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS. 


331 


tion all I wished to say. There are many other things that I 
intended to touch upon this evening, but the time is too far spent 
I must close with a few brief 

REMARKS. 

1. Many persons who deal in this way with anxious sinners, 
do it from false pity. They feel so much sympathy and com¬ 
passion, that they cannot bear to tell them the truth, which is 
necessary to save them. As well might a surgeon, when he 
sees that a man’s arm must be amputated, or he will die,-indulge 
this feeling of false pity, and just put on a plaster, and give him 
an opiate. There is no benevolence in that. True benevolence 
would lead the surgeon to hide his feelings, and to be cool and 
calm, and with a keen knife, cut the limb off) and save the life. 
It is false tenderness to do any thing short of that. I once saw a 
woman under distress of mind, who had been well nigh driven 
to despair for months. Her friends had tried all these false 
comforts without effect, and they brought her to see a minister. 
She was emaciated, and worn out with agony. The minister 
set his eye upon her, and poured in the truth upon her mind, 
and rebuked her in a most pointed manner. The ivoman who 
was with her, interfered, she thought it cruel, and said, “ O, do 
comfort her, she is so distressed, don’t trouble her any more, she 
cannot bear it.” He turned, and rebuked her , and sent her aw T ay, 
and then poured in the truth upon the anxious sinner like fire, 
and in five minutes she was converted, and went home full of 
joy. The plain truth swept all her false notions away, and in 
a few moments she was joyful in God. 

2. This treatment of anxious sinner's, administering their 
false comfort, is, in fact, cruelty. It is Cruel as the grave, as 
cruel as hell, for it is calculated to send the sinner down to its 
burning abyss. Christians feel compassion for the anxious, and 
so they ought. But the last thing they ought to do, is to flinch 
just at the point where it comes to a crisis. They should feel 
compassion, but they should show it just as the surgeon does, 
when he deliberately goes to work, in the right and best way, 
and cuts off the man’s arm, and thus cures him and saves his 
life. Just so Christians should let the sinner see their compas¬ 
sion and tenderness, but they should take God’s part, fully and 
decidedly. They should lay open to the sinner, the worst of his 
case, expose his guilt and danger, and then lead him right up 
to the cross, and insist on instant submission. They must have 
firmness enough to do his work thoroughly, and if they see the 
sinner distressed and in agony, still they must press him right 


332 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS, 


on, and not give way in the least, however much he may be in 
agony, hut still press on till he yield. 

To do this often requires nerve. I have often been placed in 
circumstances, to know this by experience. I have found my¬ 
self surrounded by anxious sinners, in such distress, as to make 
every nerve tremble, some overcome with emotion and lying on 
the floor, some applying camphor to prevent their fainting, others 
shrieking out as if they were just going to hell. Now, suppose 
any one should give false comfort in such a case as this. Sup¬ 
pose he had not nerve enough to bring them right up to the 
point of instant and absolute submission. , How unfit is such a 
man to be trusted in a case like this. 

3. Sometimes sinners become deranged through despair and 
anguish of mind. Where this is the case, it is almost always 
because those who deal with them try to encourage them with 
false comfort, and thus lead them to such a conflict with the 
Holy Ghost. They try to hold them up, while God is trying 
to break them down. And by and by, the sinner’s mind gets 
confused with this contrariety of influences, and he either goes 
deranged, or is driven to despair. 

4. If you are going to deal with sinners, remember that you 
are soon to meet them in judgment, and be sure to treat them in 
such a way that if they are lost, it will be their own fault. Do 
not try to comfort them with false notions now, and have them 
reproach you with it then. Better suppress your false sympa¬ 
thy, and let the naked truth cleave them asunder, joints and 
marrow, than to soothe them with false comfort, and beguile 
them away from God. 

5. Sinner! if you converse with any Christians, and they tell 
you to do any thing, first ask, “ If I do 'that, shall I be saved ?” 
You may be anxious, and not be saved. You may pray, and 
not be saved. You may read your bible, and not be saved. You 
may use means, in your way, and not be saved. Whatever they 
tell you to do, if you can do it and not be saved, do not attend to 
such instructions. They are calculated to give you false com¬ 
fort, and divert your attention from the main thing to be done, 
and beguile you down to bell. Do not follow any such direc¬ 
tions, lest you should die while doingit, and then there is no 
retrieve. 

Finally, never tell a sinner any thing, or give him any di¬ 
rection, that will lead him to stop short, or that does not include 
absolute submission to God. To let him stop at any point short 
of this, is infinitely dangerous. Suppose you are at an anxious 
meeting, or a prayer-meeting, and tell a sinner to pray, or to 


FALSE COMFORTS FOR SINNERS, 


333 


read a book, or any thing short of saving repentance, and he 
should fall and break his neck that night, of whom would his blood 
be required ? A youth in New Englartd once met a minister 
in the street, and asked him what lie should do to be saved. 
The minister told him to go home and go into his chamber, and 
kneel-down and give his heart to God. “ O, sir,” said the boy, 
“ I feel so bad, I am afraid I shall not live to get home.” The 
minister saw his error, and felt the rebuke, thus unconsciously 
given by a child, and he told him; “ Well, then, give your heart 
to God here, and go home to your chamber and tell him of it.” 

Oh, it is enough to make one’s heart bleed, to see so many 
miserable comforters for anxious sinners, in whose answers there 
remaineth falsehood. What a vast amount of spiritual quaqkery 
there is in the world, and how many “ forgers of lies” there are, 
“ physicians of no value,” who know no better than to comfort 
sinners with false hopes, and delude them with their “ old wives’ 
fables,” and nonsense, or who give way to false tenderness and 
sympathy, till they have not firmness enough to see the sword of 
the spirit applied, to cut men to the soul, and lay ppen the sin¬ 
ner’s naked heart. Alas! that so many are ever put into the 
ministry, who have not skill enough to administer the gospel re¬ 
medy, nor firmness enough to stand by and see the Spirit of 
God do its work, in breaking up the old foundations, and crush¬ 
ing all the rotten hopes of a sinner, and breaking him all down 
at the feet of Jesus. 



LECTURE XVIII. 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 

Text.—“ What shall I do to be saved.”—A cts. xvi. 30. 

These are the words of the jailor at Philippi, the question 
which he put to Paul and Silas, who were then under his^care 
as prisoners. Satan had, in many ways, opposed these servants 
of Gpd in their work of preaching the Gospel, and had been as 
often defeated and disgraced. But here, at Philippi, he devised 
a new and peculiar project for frustrating their labors. There 
was a certain woman at Philippi, who was possessed with a 
spirit of divination, or in other words, the spirit of the devil, and 
brought her masters much gain by her soothsaying. The devil 
set this woman to follow Paul and Silas about the streets, and 
as soon as they had begun to gain the attention of the people, 
she would come in and cry, “ These men are the servants of 
the most high God, which show unto us the way of salvation.” 
That is, she undertook to second the exhortations of the preach¬ 
ers, and added her testimony, as if to give additional weight to 
their instructions. The effect of it was just what Satan desired. 
The people all kflew that this was a wicked, base woman, and 
when they heard her attemptingto recommend this new preach¬ 
ing, they were disgusted, and concluded it was all of a piece. 
The devil knew that it would not do him any good, but would 
help their cause, to set such a person to oppose the preaching of 
the apostles, or to speak against it. The time had gone by, for 
that to succeed. And, therefore, he comes round the other way, 
and takes the opposite ground, and by setting her to praise them 
as the servants of God, and to bear her polluted testimony in, 
favor of their instructions, he led people to suppose the apostles 
were of the same character with her, and had the same spirit 
that she had, and thus all their efforts were defeated. Paul saw 
that if things went on so, he should be totally baffled, and never 
succeed in est 4 blishing a church at Philippi. And he turns 
round to her, and commands the foul spirit, in the name of Jesus 
Christ, to come out of her. When her masters saw that the 
hope of their gains was gone, they raised a great persecution, 
and caught Paul and Silas, and made a great ado, and brought 
them before the magistrates, and raised such a clamor that the 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


335 


magistrates shut them up in prison, and made their feet fast in 
the stocks. 

Thus, they thought they had put down the excitement. But 
at midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises, and the 
prisoners heard thepi. This old prison that had so long echoed 
to the voice of blasphemy and oaths, now resounded with the 
praises of God, and these walls, that had stood so firm, now 
trembled under the power of prayer. The stocks were unloosed, 
the gates thrown open, and every one’s bands broken. The 
jailor was aroused from his sleep, and when he saw the prison 
doors opened, as he knew, that if the prisoners had escaped, 
he must pay for it .with his life, he drew his sword, and was 
about to kill himself. But Paul, who had no notion of 
escaping clandestinely, cried out to him instantly, “ Do thyself 
no harm, for we are all here.” And the Jailor called for a 
light, and sprang in, and came trembling,'and fell down before 
his prisoners, Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, 
“ Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?” 

In my last lecture, I dwelt at some length on the false instruc¬ 
tions given to sinners under conviction, and the false comforts 
too often administered, and the erroneous instructions which 
such persons receive. It is my design, to-night, to show what 
are the instructions that should be given to anxious sinners in 
order to their speedy and effectual r conversion. Or, in other 
words, to explain to you, what answer should be given to those 
who make the inquiry, “What must I do ter be saved?” In 
doing it, I propose, 

I. To show what is not a‘proper direction to be given to sin¬ 
ners, when they make the inquiry in the text. 

II. Show what is a proper answer to the inquiry. And 

III. To specify several errors , which anxious sinners are apt 

to fall into. , 

1. I am to show what are not proper directions to be given to 
anxious sinners. 

No more important inquiry was ever made than this, “ What 
must I do to be saved ?” Mankind are apt enough to inquire 
“ What shall I eat, and what shall I drink,” and the question 
may be answered in various ways, with little danger. But when 
a sinner asks in earnest, “What must I do to be saved?” it is 
of infinite importance that he should receive the right answer. 
It is my desire, to-night, to tell you, professors of religion, what 
to answer to this inquiry, and to tell you, who are sinners, what 
you must do to be saved. 

1. No direction should be given to a sinner, that will leave 



336 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


him still in the gall of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. No 
answer is proper to be given, with which, if he complies, he 
would not go to heaven, if he should die the next moment. 

2. No direction should be given, that does not include a 
change of heart, or a right heart, or hearty obedience to Christ. 
In other words, nothing is proper, which does npt imply actually 
becoming a Christian. Any other direction, that falls short of 
this, is of r.o use. It will not bring him any nearer to the king¬ 
dom, it will do no good, but will only lead hirri-to defer the very 
thing which he must do, in order to be saved. The sinner 
should be told plainly*, at once, what he must do or die; and he 
should be told nothing that does notinclude a right state of heart. 
Whatever you may do, sinner, that does not include a right heart, 
is sin. Whether you read the Bible or not, it is sin, so long as you 
remain in rebellion. Whether you go to meeting, or stay away, 
whether you pray or not, it is nothing but rebellion, every moment 
It is surprising, that a sinner should suppose himself doing 
God’s services, when he prays, and reads his Bible. Should a 
rebel against this government, read the statute book, while he 
continues in rebellion, and has no design to obey; should he 
ask for pardon, while he holds on to his weapons, of resistance 
and warfare, would you think him doing his country a service, 
and laying them under obligation to show him favor. No, you 
would say that all his reading'and praying, were only an insult 
to the majesty both of the lawgiver and the law. So you, sin¬ 
ner, while you remain in impenitence, are insulting God and 
setting him at defiance, whether you read his word and pray, or 
let it alone. No matter what place or what attitude your body 
is in, on your knees, or ip the house of God, so long as vour 
heart is not right, so long as you resist the Holy Ghost, and re¬ 
ject Christ, you are a rebel against your Maker. 

II. I am to show' what is a proper answer to this inquiry, 
“ What must I do to be saved.” 

And, generally, you may give the sinner any direction, or tell 
him to do any thing, that includes a right heart, and if you make 
him understand it, and do it, he will be saved. The Spirit of 
God, in striving with sinners, suits his strivings to the state of 
mind in which he finds them. His great object in striving 
with them, is, to dislodge them from their hiding-places, and 
bring them to submit to God, at once. Now these objections, 
and difficulties, and states of mind, are as various as the circum¬ 
stances of mankind, as many as there are individuals. The 
characters of individuals, affords an endless diversity. What is 
to be done with each one, and how he is to be converted, de- 




DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


337 


pends on his particular errors. It is necessary to ascertain his 
errors, to find out what he understands, and what he needs to 
be taught more perfectly, to see what points the Spirit of God is 
pressing upon his conscience, and to press the same things and 
thus bring him to Christ. The most common directions are the 
following: 

1. It is generally in point, and a safe, and suitable direction, 
to tell a sinner to repent. I say, generally. For sometimes 
the Spirit of God seems not so-much to direct the sinner’s atten¬ 
tion to his own sins as to some other thing. In the days of the 
apostles, the minds of the people seem to have been agitated 
mainly on the question, whether Jesus was the true Messiah, 
And so the apostles directed much of their instructions to this 
point, to prove that he was the Christ. And whenever anxious 
sinners asked them what they must do, they most commonly 
exhorted them to “ Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.” They 
bore down on this point, because here was where the Spirit of 
God was striving with them, and this was the subject that 
especially agitated people’s minds, and, consequently, this would 
probably be the first thing, a person would do on submitting to 
God. It was the grand point at issue between God and the Jew 
and Gentile of those days, whether Jesus Christ was the son of 
Gcd. It was the point in dispute, to bring a sinner to yield 
this controverted question, was the way the most effectually to 
humble him. 

At other times, it will be found, that the Spirit of God is deal¬ 
ing with Sinners chiefly in reference to their own sins. Some¬ 
times he deals with them, in regard to a particular duty, as 
prayer, perhaps family prayer. The sinner will be found to be 
contesting that point with God, whether it is right for him to 
pray, or whether he ought to pray in his family. I have known 
striking cases of this kind,-where the individual was struggling 
on this point, and as soon as he fell on his knees to pray, he 
yielded his heart, showing that this was the very point which 
the Spirit of God was contesting, and the hinge on which his 
controversy with God all turned. That was conversion. 

The direction to repent is always proper , but will not always 
i be effectual, for there may be some other thing that the sinner 
needs to be told also. And where it is the pertinent direction, 
sinners need not only, to be told, to repent, but to have it explained 
to them, what repentance is. Since there has been so much 
mysticism, and false philosophy, and false theology, thrown 
around the subject, it has become necessary, to tell sinners not 
only what you mean by repentance, but also to tell them what 




338 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


you do not mean. Words that used to be plain, and easily un 
derstood, have now become so perverted that they need to be 
explained to sinners, or they wilLoften convey a wrong impres¬ 
sion to their minds. This is the case with the word repentance. 
Many suppose that remorse , or a sense of guilt, is repentance. 
Then, hell is full of repentance, for it is full of remorse, unut¬ 
terable and eternal. Others feel regret that they have done 
such a thing, and they call that repenting of it. But they only 
regret that they have sinned, because of the consequences, and 
not because they abhor sin. This is not repentance. Others 
suppose that convictions of sin and strong fears of hell are re¬ 
pentance. Others consider the remonstrances of conscience as 
repentance ; they say, “ I never do any thing wrong but that f 
repent; that I always feel sorry, I did it.” Sinners must be 
shown, that all these things, are not repentance. They are not 
only consistent with the utmost wickedness, but the devil might 
have them all, and doubtless has them all, and yet remains a 
devil. Repentance is a change of mind, as regards sin itself. It 
is not only a change of views, but a change of feelings. It is 
what is naturally understood by a change of mind on any sub¬ 
ject of interest and importance. We hear that such a man has 
changed his mind on the subject of Abolition, for instance, or 
that he has changed his views in politics. Every body under¬ 
stands that he has undergone a change in his views, his feel¬ 
ings, and his conduct. This is repentance, on that subject, it is 
a change of mind. 

Repentance, always implies abhorrence of sin. It is feeling 
towards sin just as God feels. It always implies forsaking sin. 
Sinners should be made to understand this. The sinner that 
repents does not feel as- impenitent sinners think they should 
feel, at giving up their sins if they should become religious. 
Impenitent sinners look upon religion just like this, that if they 
become pious, they shall be obliged to stay away from balls and 
parties, and obliged to give up theatres, or gambling, or other 
things that they now take delight in. And they see not how 
they could ever enjoy themselves, if they should break off from 
all those things. But this is very far from being a correct view 
of the matter. Religion does not make them unhappy, by shut¬ 
ting them out from things in which they delight, because the 
first step in it, is, to repent, to change their mind in regard to all 
these things. They do not seem to realize, that the person who 
has repented has no disposition for these things, they have 
given them up, and turned their mind away from them. Sin¬ 
ners feel as if they should want to go to such places, and want 


DIRECTION'S TO SINNERS. 


339 


Cp mingle in such scenes, just as much as they do now, and that 
it will be such a continued sacrifice, as to make them unhappy. 
This is a great mistake. 

I know there are some professors, who would be very glad to 
betake themselves to their former practices, were it not that they 
feel constrained, by fear of losing their character, or the like. 
Now, mark me. If they feel so, it is because they have no reli¬ 
gion, they do not hate sin. If they desire their former ways, they 
have no religion, they have never repented, for repentance always 
consists in a change of views and feelings. If they were really 
converted, instead of desiring such things, they would turn away 
frorn them with loathing. Instead of lusting after the- flesh-pots 
°f Egypt, and desiring to go into their former circles, parties, 
balls, and the like, they find their highest pleasure in obeying 
Qod. 

2. Sinners should be told to believe the gospel. Here, also, 
they need to have it explained to them, and to be told what is 
not faith, and what is. Nothing is more common, than for a 
sinner, when told to believe the gospel, to say, “ I do believe it.” 
The fact is, he has been brought up to admit the fact, that the 
irosnel i« true, btrt he does not believe it, he knows nothing 
about the evidence of it, and all his faith is a mere admission 
without evidence. He holds it to be tnw> jn « kind -f Joosd, 
indefinite sense, so that he is always ready to say, “ I do believe 
the Bible.” It is strange they do not see that they are deceived 
in thinking that they believe, for they must see that they have 
never aeted upon these truths, as they do upon those things that 
they do believe. Yet it is often quite difficult to convince them 
that they do not believe. 

But the fact is, that the careless sinner does not believe the 
gospel at all. The idea, that the careless sinner is an intellect¬ 
ual believer, is absurd. The devil is an intellectual believer, 
and that is what makes him tremble. What makes a sinner 
anxious is, that he begins to bean intellectual believer, and that 
makes him feel. No being in heaven, earth, or hell, can intel¬ 
lectually believe the truths of the gospel, and not feel on the 
subject. The anxious sinner has faith of the same kind with 
devils, but he has not so much of it, and, therefore, he does not 
feel so much. The man that does not feel n*or act at all, on the 
subject of religion, is an infidel, let his professions be what they 
may. He that feels nothing and does nothing, believes nothing. 
This is a philosophical fact. 

Faith-does not consist in an intellectual conviction that Christ 
died for you in particular, nor in a belief that you are a Chris- 


340 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


tian, or that you ever shall be, or that your sins are forgiven. 
But faith is that trust, or confidence, in the scriptures, that leads 
the individual to act as if they were true. This was the faith 
of Abraham. He had that confidence in what God said, which 
led him to act as if it were true. This is the way the apostle 
illustrates it in the eleventh of Hebrews. “ Faith, is the substance 
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” And he 
goes on to illustrate it by various examples. “ Through faith we 
xmderstand that the worlds were made,” that is, we believe this, 
and act accordingly. Take the case of Noah. Noah was 
warned of God of things not seen as yet, that is, he was assured 
that God was going to drown the world, and he believed it, and 
acted accordingly, he prepared an ark to save his family, and 
by so doing, he condemned the world that would not believe; 
his actions gave evidence that he was sincere. Abraham, too, 
was called of God to leave his country, with a promise that he 
should be the gainer by it, and he obeyed and went out, without 
knowing where he should go. Read the whole chapter, and 
you will find many instances of the same kind. The whole 
design of the chapter is to illustrate the nature of faith, and to 
show that it invariably results in action. The sinner should 
have it explained to him, and be made to sec that the faith which 
the gospel requires, is just that confidence in Christ, which leads 
him to act on what he says as a certain fact. This is believing 
in Christ. 

3. Another direction, proper to be given to the sinner is, that 
he should give his heart to God. God says, “ My son, give me 
thine heart.” But here also there needs to be explanation, to 
make him understand what it is. It is amazing that there 
should be any darkness here. It is the language of common 
life, in every body’s mouth, and every body understands just 
what it means, when we use it in regard to any thing else. But 
when it comes to religion, they seem to be all in the dark. Ask a 
sinner, no matter what may be his age, or education, what it means 
to give the heart to God, and, strange as it may appear, he is at a 
loss for an answer. Ask a woman, what it is to give her heart to 
her husband, or a man, what it is to give his heart to his wife, and 
they understand it. But then they are totally blind as to giving 
their hearts to God. I suppose I have asked more than a thou¬ 
sand anxious sinners this question. When I have told them, 
they must give their hearts to God, they would always say they 
were willing to do it, and sometimes, that they were anxious to 
do it, and even seem to be in an agony of desire about it. Then 
I have asked them, what they understood to be giving their 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


341 


hearts to God, as they were so willing to do it. And very seldom 
have I received a correct or rational answer from a sinner of 
an y age. I have sometimes had the strangest answers that can 
be imagined—any thing but what they ought to sajr. Now, to 
give your heart to God, is the same thing as to give your heart 
to any body else; the same as for a woman to give her heart to 
her husband. Ask that woman if she understands this? “O 
yes, that is plain enough, it is to place my affections on him, 
and strive to please him in every thing.” Very well, place 
your affections on God,and strive to please him in everything. 
But alas, when they come to the subject of religion, people sup¬ 
pose there is some wonderful mystery about it. Some talk as 
if they supposed it was to take out this bundle of muscles, or 
fleshy organ, in their bosom, and give it to God. Sinner, what 
God asks of you, is, that you should love him supremely. 

3. Submit to God , is also a proper direction to anxious sin¬ 
ners. And, O, how dark sinners .are here too. Scarcely a sin¬ 
ner can be found, who will not tell you he is willing to submit 
to God. But they do not understand it. They need to be told 
what true submission is. Sometimes they think it means that 
they should be willing to be damned. Sometimes they place 
themselves in this attitude, and call it submission; they say, if 
they are elected, they shall be saved, and if not, they shall be 
damned. This is not submission. True submission, is yielding 
obedience to God. Suppose a rebel, in arms against the govern¬ 
ment, was called on to submit. What would he understand by 
it ? Why, that he should yield the point, and lay down his 
arms, and obey the laws. That is just what it means, for a sin¬ 
ner to submit to God. He must cease his strife and conflict 
against his Maker, and take the attitude of a willing and obe¬ 
dient child, willing to be and do whatever God requires. “ Here. 
Lord, am I; Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” 

Suppose a company of soldiers had rebelled, and government 
had raised an army to put them down, and had driven them 
into a strong hold, where they were out of provisions, and had 
no way to escape, and they should not know what to do. Sup¬ 
pose the rebels to have met in this extremity, to consider what 
is to be done? and one rises up, and says, “ Well, comrades, I 
am convinced we are all wrong from the beginning, and now 
the reward of our deeds is like to overtake us, and we cannot 
escape, and as for remaining here to die, I am resolved not to 
do it, I am going to throw myself on the mercy of the com¬ 
mander-in-chief.” That man submits. He ceases, from that 
moment, to be a rebel in his heart, just as soon as he comes to 

29* 





342 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


this conclusion. So it is with the sinner when he yields the 
point, and consents in his heart to do, and be, whatever God shall 
require. The sinner may be in doubt what to do, and may feel 
afraid to put himself in God’s hands, thinking that if he does, 
perhaps God will send him down to hell, as he deserves. But 
it is his business to leave all that question with God, and not 
resist his Maker any longer, but give all up to God, make no 
conditions, and trust it wholly to God’s benevolence and wisdom 
to decide what shall be done, and to appoint his future condi¬ 
tion. Until you do this, sinner, you have done nothing to the 
purpose. 

5. Another proper direction to be given to sinners, is to con¬ 
fess and forsake your sins. This means that they should both 
confess and forsake them. They must confess to God their 
sins against God, and confess to men their sins against men, and 
forsake them all. A man does not forsake his sins till he has 
made all the reparation in his power. If he has stolen money, 
or defrauded his neighbor out of property, he does not forsake 
his sins by merely resolving not to steal any more, or not to 
cheat again ; he must make reparation to the extent of his power. 
So, if he has slandered any one, he does not forsake his sin by 
merely saying he will not do so again. He must make repara¬ 
tion. So, in like manner, if he has robbed God, as all sinners 
have, he must make reparation, as far as he has the power. Sup¬ 
pose a man has made money in rebellion against God, and has 
withheld from him his time, talents and service, has lived and 
rioted upon the bounties of his providence, and refused to lay 
himself out for the salvation of the world; he has robbed God. 
Now, if he should die feeling that this money was his own, and 
should he leave it to his heirs—why, he is just as certain to 
go to hell as the highway robber. He has never made any sa¬ 
tisfaction to God. With all his whining and pious talk, he has 
never confessed HIS SIN to God, nor forsaken his sin, for he 
has never felt nor acknowledged himself to be the steward of 
God. If he refuses to hold the property in his possession, as the 
steward of God ; if he accounts it his own, and as such gives it 
to his children, he says, in effect, to God, “ That property is 
not yours, it is mine, and I will give it to my children.” "He 
has continued to persevere in his sin, for he does not relinquish 
the ownership of that of which he has robbed God. 

What would a merchant think, if his hired clerk should take 
all the capital and set up a store of his own, and die with it in 
his hands? Will such a man go to heaven? “ No,” you say, 
every one of you, “ If such a man does not go to hell, there 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


343 


might just as well be no hell.” God would prove himself infi¬ 
nitely unjust, to let such a character go unpunished. What, 
then, shall we say of the man who has robbed God all his 
life ? Here God set him to be his clerk, to manage some of his 
affairs, and he has gone and stolen all the money, and says it is 
his, and he keeps it, and dies, and gives it to his children, as if 
it was all his own lawful property. Is that man going to 
heaven? Has that man forsaken sin? I tell you, no. If he 
has not surrendered himself and all to God, he has not taken 
the first step in the way to heaven. 

6. Another proper direction to be given to sinners is, 
n Choose ye this day , whom ye loill serve." Under the Old 
Testament dispensation, this or something equivalent to it, was 
the most common direction given. It was not common to call 
on men to believe in Christ until the days of John the Baptist. 
He baptized those who came to him, with the baptism of repent¬ 
ance, and directed them to believe on him who should come 
after him. Under Joshua, the text was something which the 
people all understood more easily than they would a call to be¬ 
lieve on the distant Messiah; it was “ Choose ye, this day, whom 
ye'will serve.” On another occasion, Moses said to them, “ I 
call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have 
set before you life and death, blessing and cursing : therefore 
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” The direc¬ 
tion was accommodated to the people’s knowledge. And it is 
good now, as it was then. Sinners are called upon to choose— 
what? Whether they will serve God or the world—whether 
they will follow holiness or sin. Let them be made to under¬ 
stand what is meant by choosing, and what is to be chosen, 
and then if the thing is done from the heart, they wil. be saved. 

Any of these directions, if complied with, will constitute true 
conversion. The particular exercises may vary in different 
cases. Sometimes the first exercise in conversion, is submission 
to God, sometimes repentance, sometimes faith, sometimes the 
choice of God and his service, in short, whatever their thoughts 
are taken up with at the time. If their thoughts are directed to 
Christ at the moment^ the first exercise will be faith. If to sin, 
the first exercise will be repentance. If to their future course 
of life, it is choosing the service of God. If to the Divine gov¬ 
ernment, it is submission. It is important to find out just where 
the Holy Spirit is pressing the sinner at the time, and then take 
care to push that point. If it is in regard to Christ, press that; 
if it is in regard to his future course of life, push him right up 
to an immediate choice of obedience to God. 


344 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


It is a great error to suppose that any one particular exercise 
is always foremost in conversion, or, that every sinner must 
have faith first, or submission firs-t. It is not true, either in 
philosophy or in fact. There is a great variety in people’s 
exercises. Whatever point is taken hold of, between God and 
the sinner, when the sinner YIELDS that, he is converted. 
Whatever the particular exercise maybe, if it includes obedience, 
of heart to God on any point , it is true conversion. When he 
yields one point to Gocfs authority , he is ready to yield all. 
When he changes his mind, and obeys in one thing, because it 
is God’s will , he will obey in other things, so far as he sees it 
to be God’s will. Where there is this right choice, then, when¬ 
ever the mind is directed to any one point of duty, he is ready 
to follow. It matters very little which of these directions is 
given, if it is only made plain, and if it is to the point, so as to 
serve as a test of obedience to God. If it is to the point that the 
Spirit of God is debating with the sinner’s mind, so as to fall in 
with the Spirit’s work, and not to divert the sinner’s attention from 
the very point in controversy, let it be made perfectly clear, and 
then pressed till the sinner yields, ai.d he will be saved. 

III. I am to mention several errors which anxious sinners 
are apt to fall into, respecting this great inquiry. 

1. The first error is, in supposing that they must make them¬ 
selves better, or prepare themselves, so as in some way to recom¬ 
mend themselves to the mercy of God. It is marvelous, that 
sinners will not understand, that all they have to do is to accept 
salvation from God, all prepared to their hands. But they all, 
learned or unlearned, at first, betake themselves to a legal course 
to get relief. This is one principal reason why they will not 
become Christians at once, just as soon as they begin to attend 
to the subject. They imagine that they must be, in some way 
or other, prepared tp come. They must change their dress, and 
make themselves look a little better; they are not willing to come 
just as they are, in their rags and poverty. They must have 
something more on, before they can approach to God. They 
should be shown, at once, that it is impossible they should be any 
better, until they do what God requires. Every pulse that beats, 
every breath they draw, they are growing worse, because they 
are standing out in rebellion against God, so long as they don’t 
do the very thing which God requires of them as the first thing 
to be done. 

2. Another error is, in supposing that they must suffer a 
considerable time under conviction , as a kind of punishment, 
before they are ready properly to come to Christ. And so they 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNER8. 


345 


will pray for conviction. And they think, that if they are 
ground down to the earth, with distress, for a - sufficient time, 
then God will pity them, and be more ready to help them, 
when he sees them so very miserable. They should be made 
to understand clearly, that they are thus unhappy and miser¬ 
able, merely because they refuse to accept the relief which God 
offers. Take the ca£e of the stubborn child, when his parent 
stands over him with the rod, and the child shudders and 
screams. Should that child imagine he is gaining any thing 
by his agony? His distress arises from his conviction, and 
shall he pray for more conviction ? Does that make him any 
better? Does his father pity him any more, because he stands 
out ? Who does not see that he is all the while growing worse ? 

3. Sometimes sinners imagine that they must wait for differ¬ 
ent feelings , before they submit to God. They say, “ I do not 
think I feel right yet, to accept of Christ'; I do not think I am 
prepared to be converted yet.” They ought to be made to see 
that what God requires of them is to feel differently. And to say 
they must feel differently before they obey God, is to say they 
must feel differently before they feel differently; or to say, 4 I 
don’t feel right, because I don’t feel right.” . God tells the sin¬ 
ner to love him, and the sinner replies, “ Lord, I must wait till 
I feel differently.” That is, you must wait till you love God 
before you will begin to love him. Why, sinner, you are not to 
wait for these feelings, as if they were to come into your mind 
from some other quarter. What God requires of,you, is the* 
present act of your own mind, in turning from sin to holiness, 
and from the service of Satan to the service of the living God. 
The very thing required, is to feel right; and do you wait for 
these feelings, as if they were not to be exercises of your own? 

4. Another error of sinners, is to suppose they must wait till 
their hearts are changed. “ What ?” say they, “ am I to be¬ 
lieve in Christ before my heart is changed? Do you mean 
that I am to repent before my heart is changed?” Now, the 
simple answer to all this is,.that the change of heart is the very 
thing in question. God requires* sinners’to love him. That 
is to change their heart. God requires the sinner to believe the 
gospel. That is to change his heart. God requires him to 
repent. That is to change his heart. God does not tell him 
to wait till his heart is changed, and then repent and believe, 
and love God. The very word itself, repent , signifies a change 
of mind or heart. To do either of these things, is to change 
your heart, and to make you a new heart, just as God requires. 

5. Sinners often get the idea that they are perfectly willing 


846 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


to do what God requires. Tell them to do thisMhing, or that, 
to repent, or believe, or give God their hearts, and they say, 
“ O yes, 1 am perfectly willing to do that, I wish I could do it, 
I would give anything if 1 could do it.” They ought to under¬ 
stand, that, being truly willing is doing it, but there is a differ¬ 
ence between willing and desiring. People often desire to be 
Christians, when they are wholly unwilling to be so. When 
we see any thing, which appears to us to be a good, we are so 
constituted that we desire it. We necessarily desire it when it is 
before our minds. We cannot help desiring it in proportion as 
its goodness is presented to our minds. But yet we may not be 
willing to have it, under all the circumstances. It may be 
that, we prefer upon the whole, that the present possessor should 
continue to possess it still. Or that we choose to have our friend 
or child possess it, instead of ourselves. A man may desire to 
go to Philadelphia on many accounts, while, for still more 
weighty reasons, he chooses not to go there. So the sinner may 
desire to be a Christian. He may see many good things in 
being a Christian. Fie may see that if he were a Christian he 
■would be a great deal more happy, and that he should go to 
heaven when he dies, but yet, he is not willing to be a Chris¬ 
tian. WILLING to obey Christ is to be a Christian. When 
an individual actually chooses to obey God, he is a Christian. 
But all such desires, as do not terminate in actual choice, are 
nothing*. 


6. The sinner will sometimes say, that he offers to give God 
his heart, but he intimates that God is unwilling. But this is 
absurd. What does God ask? Why, that you should love him. 
Now, for you to say you are willing to give God your heart, 
but God is unwilling, is the same as saying, that you are willing 
to love God, but God is not willing to be loved by you, and will 
not suffer you to love him. It is important to clear up all these 
points in the sinner’s mind, that he may have no dark and mys¬ 
terious corner to rest in, where the truth will not reach him. 


7. Sinners sometimes get thfc idea -that they repent, when 
they are only convicted. Whenever the sinner is found resting 
in any LIE, let the truth sweep it away, however much it may 
pain and distress him. If he has any error of this kind, you 
must tear it away from him, if you do not mean that he shall 
stumble into die depths of hell. 

8. Sinners are often wholly taken up with looking at them- 
selves, to see if they cannot find something there, some kind of 
feeling or other, that will recommend them to God. Evidently, 
for want of proper instruction, David Brainard, was a long 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS 


S47 


time taken up with his state of mind , looking for som z feelings 
that would recommend him to God. Sometimes he imagined 
that he had such feelings, and would tell God in prayer, that 
now he felt as he ought, to receive his mercy; and then he would 
see that he had been all wrong, and be ashamed that he had told 
God that he felt right. Thus, the poor man, for want of cor¬ 
rect instruction, was driven almost to despair, and it is easy to 
see, that his Christian exercises through life, were greatly modi¬ 
fied, and his comfort and usefulness much impaired by the false 
philosophy he had adopted on this point. You must turn the 
sinner away from himself, to something else. Suppose he keeps 
poring over himself, until he is going into a state of despair. The 
proper course then is, to turn off his attention from looking at 
himself, and make him look at some duty to be performed, or 
make him look at Christ, and, perhaps, before he is aware, he 
will find that he has submitted to God. His attention was di¬ 
verted away from himself, to contemplate the reasonableness of 
God’s requirements, or the sufficiency of Christ’s atonement, or 
something of this kind, and as he dwelt upon it, he just gave up 
his heart, and the agony was over. 

REMARKS. 

1. The labor of ministers is greatly increased, and the diffi¬ 
culties in the way of salvation are greatly multiplied, by the false 
instructions that have been given to sinners. The consequence 
has been, that directions which used to be plain are now obscure. 
People have been taught so long, that there is something awfully 
mysterious and unintelligible about conversion, that they do not 
try to understand, it. Sinners have been taught- these false no¬ 
tions, till now they ace every where entrenched behind these sen¬ 
timents, such as “ cannot repent,” “ must wait for God,” and the 
like. It was once sufficient, as we learn from the Bible, to tell 
sinners to repent, or to tell them to believe on the Lord Jesus 
Christ. But now faith has been talked about as a principle , in¬ 
stead of an act, and repentance as something put into the mind, 
instead of an exercise of the mind, and sinners are perplexed. 
Ministers are charged with preaching heresy, because they pre¬ 
sume to teach that faith is an exercise, and not a principle, and 
that sin is an act, and not a part of the constitution of man. And 
sinners have become so sophisticated, that you have to be at 
great pains in explaining, not only what you do not mean, but 
what you do mean, otherwise they will be almost sure to mis¬ 
understand you, and either gain a false relief from their anxiety, 
by throwing their duty off upon God, or else run into despair, 


348 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


from the supposed impracticability of doing what is requisite for 
their salvation. It is often the greatest difficulty to lead them out 
of these theological labyrinths and mazes, into which they have 
been deluded, and to lead them along the straight and simple 
way of the gospel. It seems as if the greatest ingenuity had 
been employed, to mystify the minds of people, and weave a 
most subtle web of false theology, calculated to involve a sinner 
in endless darkness. 

Who that has been in revivals, has not encountered that end¬ 
less train of fooleries, which have been inculcated, till it has be¬ 
come necessary to be as plain as A B C, and the best educated 
have to be talked to just like children. So much have your D. 
D. ! s done to mystify and befool people’s minds, in the plainest 
matters. Tell a sinner to believe , and he turns round to you, 
and stares, “ Why, how you talk; is not faith a principle, and 
how am I to believe until [ get this principle?” So, if a min¬ 
ister tells a sinner the very words that the apostles used, in the 
great revival at the day of pentecost, “ Repent and be converted, 
every one of you,” and they reply as they have been taught, 
“ O, I guess you are an Arminian; I don’t want any of your 
Arminian teaching for me; don’t you deny the Spirit’s influ¬ 
ences?” It is enough to make humanity weep, to see the fog, 
and darkness, that have been thrown around the plain directions 
of the gospel; till many generations have been emptied into hell. 

2. These false instructions to sinners, are infinitely worse 
than none. The Lord Jesus Christ found it more difficult to get 
the people to yield up their false notions of theology, than any 
thing else. This has been the great difficulty with the Jews to 
this day. that they have received false notions in theology, have 
perverted the truth on certain points, and you cannot make them 
understand the plainest points in the gospel. So it is with sin¬ 
ners, the most difficult thing to be done is to get away these 
refuges of lies, which they have gotten from false theology. 
They are so fond of holding on to these refuges, because they 
are called orthodox, and because they excuse the sinner, and 
condemn God, that it is found to be the most perplexing, and 
difficult, and discouraging part of a minister’s labor, to drive 
them away. 

3. No wonder the gospel has taken so little effect, encum¬ 
bered as it has been with these strange dogmas. The truth is, 
that very little of the gospel has come out upon the world, for 
these hundreds of years, without being clogged and obscured 
by false theology. People have been told that they must re¬ 
pent, and, in the same breath, told that they could not repent, 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


349 


until the truth itself has been all mixed up with error, so as to 
produce the sam6 practical effect with error, and the gospel that 
is preached has been another gospel, or no gospel at all. 

4. You can understand what is meant by healing slightly 
the hurt of the daughter of God’s people, and the danger of 
doing it. It is very easy, when sinners are under conviction, 
to say something that shall smooth over the case, and relieve 
their anxiety, so that they will either get a false hope, or will 
be converted with their views so obscure, that they will always 
be poor, feeble, wavering, doubting, inefficient Christians. 

5. Much depends on the manner in which a person is dealt 
with, when under conviction. Mudi of his future comfort and 
usefulness depends on the clearness, and strength, and firmness, 
with which the directions of the gospel are given, when he is 
under conviction. If those who deal with him are afraid to use 
the probe thoroughly, he will always be a poor, sickly, doubting 
Christian. If converted at all, he will never do much good. 
The true mode, is to deal thoroughly and plainly with a sinner, 
to tear away every excuse can get up, and show him plainly 
what he is, and what he ought to be, and he will bless God to 
all eternity, that he fell in with those who would be so faithful 
to his soul. For the want of this thorough and searching man¬ 
agement, many are converted who seem to be stillborn. And 
the reason is, they never were faithfully dealt with. We may 
charitably hope they are Christians, but still it is uncertain and 
doubtful. Their conversion seems rather a change of opinion, 
than a change of heart. But if, when a sinner is under convic¬ 
tion, you pour in the truth, put in the probe, break up the old 
foundations, and sweep away his refuges of lies, and use the 
word of God, like fire and like a hammer, you will find that 
they will come out with clear views, and strong faith, and firm 
principles, not doubting, halting, irresolute Christians, but such 
as follow the Lord wholly. That is the way to make strong 
Christians. This has been eminently the case in many revi¬ 
vals of modern days. I have heard old Christians say of the 
converts, “ These converts were born men and women, full 
grown, they never were children, but .have, at the very outset, 
all the clearness of view, and strength of faith, of old Chris¬ 
tians. They seem to understand the doctrines of religion, and 
to know what to do, and how to take hold, to promote revivals, 
better than one in a hundred of the old members in the church.” 

I once knew a young man who was converted, away from 
home. The place where he lived had no minister, and no 
preaching, and no religion. He went home in three days after 

30 


a50 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


he was converted, and immediately set himself to work, to labor 
for a revival. He set up meetings in his neighborhood, and 
prayed and labored, and a revival broke out, of which he had 
the principal management through a powerful work, which con¬ 
verted most of the principal men of the place. The truth was, 
he had been so dealt with, that he knew what he was about. 
He understood the subject, and knew where he stood himself. 
He was not all the while troubled with doubts, whether he was 
himself a Christian. He knew that he was serving God, and 
that God was with him, and so he went boldly and resolutely 
forward to his object. But if you undertake to make converts, 
without cutting up all their errors, and tearing away their false 
hopes, you may make a host of hypocrites, or of puny, dwarfish 
Christians, always doubting, and easily turned back from a 
revival spirit, and worth nothing. The way is, to bring them 
right out to the light. When a man is converted in this way, 
you can depend on him, and know where to find him. 

7. Protracted seasons of conviction are generally owing to de¬ 
fective instruction. Wherever clear and faithful instructions 
are given to sinners, there you will generally find that convic¬ 
tions are deep and pungent , but short. 

8. Where clear and discriminating instructions are given to 
convicted sinners, if they do not soon submit, their convictions 
will generally leave them. Convictions in such cases are gene¬ 
rally short. Where sinners are deceived by false views, they 
may be kept along for weeks, and perhaps months, and some¬ 
times for years, in a languishing state, and at last, perhaps, be 
crowded into the kingdom, and saved. But where the truth is 
made perfectly clear to the sinner’s mind, and all his errors are 
torn away, if he does not soon submit, his case is hopeless. 
Where the truth is brought to bear upon his mind, and he di¬ 
rectly resists the very truth that must convert him, there is no¬ 
thing more to be done. The Spirit will soon leave him, for the 
very weapons he uses, are resisted. Where instructions are 
not clear, and are mixed up with errors, the Spirit may strive 
even for years, in great mercy, to get sinners through the 
fog of false instruction. But not so, where their duty is clearly 
explained to them, and they are brought right up to the single 
point of immediate submission, and have all their false pretences 
exposed, and the path of duty made perfectly plain. Then, if 
they do not submit, the Spirit of God forsakes them, and their 
state is well nigh hopeless. 

If there be sinners in this house, and you see your duty 
clearly, TAKE CARE how you delay. If you do not sub- 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


351 


mit, you may expect the Spirit of God will forsake you, and 
you are LOST. 

. 8. A vast deal of the direction given to anxious sinners 
amounts to little less than the popish doctrine of indulgences. 
The pope used to^sell indulgences to sin, and this led to the re¬ 
formation under Luther. Sometimes people Avould purchase an 
indulgence to sin for a certain time, or to commit some particular 
sin, or a number of sins. Now, there is a vast deal in protestant 
churches, which is little less than the same thing. What does 
it differ from this, to tell a sinner to wait? The amount of it is, 
telling him to continue in sin a while longer, while he is wait¬ 
ing for God to convert him. And what is that but an indul¬ 
gence to commit sin ? Any direction given to sinners, that does 
not require them immediately to obey God, is an indulgence to 
sin. It is in effect, givingthem liberty to continue in sin against 
God. Such directions are not only wicked, but ruinous and 
cruel. If they do not destroy the soul, as no doubt they often 
do, they defer, at all events, the sinner’s enjoyment of God and 
of Christ, and he stands a great chance of being lost for ever, 
while listening to such instructions. O, how dangerous it is, to 
give a sinner reason to think he may wait a moment, before 
giving his heart to God. 

9. So far as I have had opportunity to observe, those conver¬ 
sions which are most sudden have commonly turned out to be 
the best Christians. 1 know the reverse of this has often been 
held and maintained. But I am satisfied there is no reason for 
it, although multitudes, even now, regard it as a suspicious cir¬ 
cumstance, if a man has been converted very suddenly. But 
the Bible gives no warrant for this supposition. There is not 
a case of protracted conviction recorded in the whole Bible. 
All the conversions recorded there, are sudden conversions. 
And I am persuaded there never would have been such multi¬ 
tudes of tedious convictions, and often ending in nothing after 
all, if it had not been for those theological perversions which 
have filled the world with cannot-ism. In Bible days, they 
told sinners to repent, and they did it then. Cannot-ism had 
not been broached in that day. It is this speculation, about the 
inability of sinners to obey God, that lays the foundation for all 
the protracted anguish and distress, and perhaps ruin, through 
which so many are led. Where a sinner is brought to see 
what he has to do, and he takes his stand at once, AND DOES 
IT, he generally does so afterwards, and you generally find that 
such a person will hold out so, and prove a decided character. 
You will not find him one of those that you always have to 


352 


DIRECTIONS TO SINNERS. 


warp up to duty, like a ship, against wind and tide. Look at 
those professors who always have to be dragged forward in 
duty, and you will generally find that they had not clear and 
consistent directions when they were converted, and most likely 
they will be very much “afraid of these sudden conversions.” 

Afraid of sudden conversions! Some of the best Christians 
of my acquaintance were convicted and converted in the space 
of a few minutes. In one quarter of the time that 1 have been 
speaking, many of them were awakened, and came right out on 
the Lord’s side, and have been shining lights in the church 
ever since, and have generally manifested the same decision of 
character in religion, that they did when they first came out and 
took a stand on thj Lord’s side. 




$ 





LECTURE XIX. 


INSTRUCTIONS TO CONVERTS. 


Text.—“F eed my lambs.”— John xxi. 15. 

You, who read your Bibles, recollect the connection in which 
these words are found, and by whom they were spoken. They 
were addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ to Peter, after he had 
denied his Lord, and had professed repentance. Probably one 
of the designs which Christ had in view, in suffering Peter to 
sin so awfully as to deny his master, was to produce a deeper 
work of grace in him, and thus fit him for the peculiar duty to 
which he intended to call him, in laying the foundation of the 
Christian Church, and watching over the spiritual int rests of 
the converts. It needed a peculiar work of grace in s soul, 
to fit him to lead others through those scenes of trial a temp¬ 
tation to which the early Christians, m particular, were .posed. 

It is evident, that, though Peter had special natural c alifica- 
tions for such a work, yet he was quite a superficial sai■> He 
was probably converted before this, but he was weak, a . there 
was left so much of his natural roughness and turbi encc of 
temper, that he was still ready to bristle up on any occasion, and 
take offence at every thing that crossed him, so that he was still 
quite unfit for that particular work to which ’he was destined. 
Christ designed him for such a peculiar service, that it seems 
something was indispensable to fit him for it, and make him 
such a saint, that futilrq opposition would not irritate him, nor 
difficulties dishearten him, nor success and honor spoil him, by 
lifting up his heart with pride. And, therefore, Christ takes the 
effectual method recorded before us, of dealing with him once 
for all, to secure a thorough work in his soul. 

He asked him this question, to remind him, in an affecting 
manner, at once of his sin and of the love of Christ, “ Simon, 
son of Jona, lovest thou me more than these?” Strongly imply¬ 
ing a doubt whether he did love him. Peter answers, “ Yea, 
Lord, thou knowest that I love thee.” He said unto him, “ Feed 
my lambs.” He then repeated the question, as if he would read 
his inmost soul, “Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me?” Peter 
was still firm, and promptly answers again, “Yea, Lord, thou 
knowest that I love thee.” Jesus still asked him the question 

30* 




354 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


again, the third time, emphatically. He seemed to urge the 
point, as if he would search his inmost thoughts, to see whether 
Peter would ever deny him again. Peter was touched, he was 
grieved, it is said; he did not fly into a passion—he did not 
boast, as he did on a former occasion, “ Though I should die 
with thee, yet would I not deny thee,” but he was grieved, 
he was subdued, he spoke tenderly, he appealed to the Savior 
himself, as if he would implore him not to doubt his sincerity 
any longer, “ Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that 
I love thee.” Christ then gave him his final charge, “Feed my 
sheep.” 

By the terms sheep and lambs here, the Savior undoubtedly 
designated Christians,—members of his church; the lambs 
probably represent young converts, those that have but little ex¬ 
perience an$ but little knowledge of religion, and therefore, need 
to have special attention and pains taken with them, to guard 
from harm, and to train them for future usefulness. And when 
our Savior told Peter to feed his sheep, he doubtless referred to 
the important part which Peter was to perform in watching over 
the newly formed churches in different parts of the world, and in 
training the young converts, and leading them along to useful¬ 
ness and happiness. 

My last Lecture was on the subject of giving right instruction 
to anxious sinners. And this naturally brings me along, in this 
Course of Lectures, to consider the manner in which young 
converts should, be treated and the instructions that should be 
given to them. 

INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

In speaking on this subject, it is my .design, 

I. To state several things that ought to be considered, in re¬ 
gard to the hopes of young converts. 

II. Several things respecting their making a profession of re¬ 
ligion, and joining the church. 

III. The importance of having correct instruction given to 
young converts. 

IV. What should not be taught to young converts. 

V. What particular things are specially necessary to be taught 
to young converts. 

VI. How young converts should be treated by church mem¬ 
bers. 

I. I am to state several matters in regard to the hopes of young 
converts . s 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


S55 


1. Nothing should be said to them to create, a hope. Nothing 
should ordinarily be intimated to persons under conviction, cal¬ 
culated to make them think they have experienced religion, till 
they find it out themselves. I do not like this term, “ experienced 
religion,” and I use it only because it is a phrase in common 
use. It is an absurdity in itself. What is religion ? .Obedience 
to God. Suppose you should hear a good citizen say he had 
experienced obedience to the .government of the country. You 
see it is nonsense. Or suppose a child should talk about expe¬ 
riencing obedience to his father. If he knew what he was say¬ 
ing, he would say he had obeyed his father , just as the apostle 
Paul says to the Roman believers, “Ye have obeyed from the 
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.” 

What I mean to s^y is, that ordinarily, it is best to let their 
hope or belief that they are converted spring up spontaneously 
in their own minds. Sometimes it will happen that persons 
may be really converted, but owing to some notions which they 
have been taught about religion, they do not realize it. Their 
views of what religion is, and its effect upon the mind, are so 
entirely wide of the truth, that they do not think that they have 
it. I will give you an illustration on this point. 

Some years since, I labored in a place where a revival was in 
progress, and there was in the place a young lady from Boston. 
She had been brought up a Unitarian, she had considerable 
education, and was intelligent on many subjects, but on the sub¬ 
ject of religion she was very ignorant. At length she was con¬ 
victed of sin. She became awfully convinced of her horrible 
enmity against God. She had been so educated as to have a 
sense of propriety, but her enmity against God became so great, 
and broke out so frightfully, that it was horrible to hear her talk. 
She used to come to the anxious meetings, where we conversed 
with each one separately. And* her feelings of opposition to 
God were such that she used to create disturbance. By the time 
I came within two or three seats from her, where she could hear 
what I said in a low voice to the others, she would begin to make 
remarks in reply, so that they could be heard. And she would say 
the most bitter things against God, and against his providence, and 
his method of dealing with mankind, as if God was an infinite 
tyrant. She would speak of him as the most unjust and cruel 
being in the universe. I would try to hush her, and make her 
keep still, because she distracted the attention of others. Some- 
timef she would stop and command her temper awhile, and 
sometimes she would rise and go out. I have seldom seen a 
case, where the enmity of the heart rose so high against God. 


356 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


One night at the anxious meeting, afier she had been very rest¬ 
less, as I came towards her, she began as usual to reply, but I 
hushed her, and told her I could not converse with her there, 
hut invited her to my room the next morning, and then I would 
talk with her. She promised to come, but, says she, “ God is 
unjust, he is infinitely unjust. Is he not almighty ? Why then 
has he never shown me my enmity before? Why has he let 
me run on so long? Why does he let my friends at Boston re¬ 
main in this ignorance ? They are the enemies of God, as much 
as I am, and are going to hell. Why does he not show them 
the truth in regard to their condition ? ” And in this temper she 
left the room. 

The next morning she came to my room, as she had promis¬ 
ed. I saw as soon as she came in that her countenance was 
changed, but I said nothing about it. “ O,” said she, “ I have 
changed my mind, as to what I said last night about God, I 
don’t think he has done me any wrong, and I think I shall get 
religion sometime, for now I love to think about God. I have 
been all wrong; the reason why I had never known my enmity 
before, was, that I would not. I used to read the Bible, but I 
always passed over the passages that would make me feel as if I 
was a lost sinner, and those passages that spoke of Jesus Christ 
as God, I passed over without consideration, and now I see that 
it was my fault, not God’s fault, that I did not know any more 
about myself; I have changed my mind now.” She had no 
idea that this was religion, but she was encouraged now to ex¬ 
pect religion at some future time, because she loved God so 
much. I said nothing to make her imagine that I thought her 
a Christian, but left her to find it out. And, for a time, her mind 
was so entirely occupied with thinking about God, that she 
never seemed to ask whether this i$ religion or not. 

It is a great evil, ordinarily' to encourage persons to hope they 
are Christians. Very likely you may judge prematurely. Or 
if not, it is better they should find it out for themselves, suppose 
they do not see it at once. They may break down lower than 
ever, and then they will come out so clear and decided, that they 
will know where they are. 

2. When you see persons expressing a hope, and yet they 
express doubts too, it is generally because the work is not 
thorough. If they are convicted, they need breaking up. They 
are still lingering around the world, or they have not broken oft' 
effectually from their sins, and they need to be pushed hack, 
rather than urged forward. If you see reason to doubt, or if 
you find that they have doubts, most probably there is some 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 357 

good reason to doubt. Sometimes persons express a hope in 
Christ, and afterwards remember some sin, that needs to be con¬ 
fessed to men, or some case where they hav.e slandered, or de¬ 
frauded, where it is necessary to make satisfaction, and where 
either their character, or their purse, is so deeply implicated that 
they hesitate, and refuse to perform their duty. This grieves 
the Spirit, brings darkness over their minds of course, and justly 
leads them to (foubt whether they are truly converted. If a soul 
is truly converted, it will generally be found when there are 
doubts, that on some point they are neglecting duty. They 
should be searched ?is with a lighted candle, and brought up to 
the performance of duty, and not suffered to hope until they do 
it. Ordinarily it is proper just there to throw in some plain 
and searching truth, that will go through them, something that 
will wither their hopes like a moth. Do it while the Spirit of 
God is dealing with them, and do it in the right way, and there 
is no danger of its doing harm. 

To illustrate this: I knew a person, who w r as a member of 
the church, but an abominable hypocrite, proved to be so by her 
conduct, and afterward fully confessed to be so. In a revival 
of religion she was awakened and deeply convicted, and after a 
while she got a hope. She came to a minister to talk with him 
about her hope, and he poured in the truth to her mind in such 
a manner as to annihilate all her hopes. She. then remained 
under conviction many days, and at last she broke out in hope 
again. The minister knew her temperament, and knew what 
she needed, and he tore away her hope again. And then she 
broke down, clear to the ground, so that she could not stand or 
go. So deeply did the Spirit of God PROBE her heart,, that, 
for a time, it took away all her bodily strength. And then she 
came out subdued. Before, she had been one of the proudest 
rebels against God’s government that ever was, but now’ she be¬ 
came humbled, and was one of the most modest, tender, lovely 
Christians I have ever known. And such she remained. No 
doubt that was just the way to deal with her. It was just the 
treatment that Iier case required. 

It is often useful to deal with individuals in this w T ay. Some 
persons are naturally unamiable in their temper, and unlovely 
in their deportment. And it is particularly important that such 
persons should be dealt with most thoroughly whenever they 
flVst begin to express hope in Christ. Unless the work with 
them, is, in the-first place, uncommonly deep and thorough, they 
will be vastly less useful, and interesting, and happy, than they 
otherwise would have.been, had the probe been thoroughly and 


358 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS, 


skilfully applied to their heart. If they are encouraged at-first, 
without being thoroughly dealt with, if they are left to go right 
along, and not sufficiently probed and broken down, these un¬ 
lovely traits of character will remain unsubdued, and will be 
always breaking out to the great injury, both of their personal 
peace, and their general influence and usefulness as Christians. 

It is important to take advantage of such characters while they 
are just in these peculiar circumstances, so that they can be 
moulded into proper form. Do not spare, though it should be a 
child, or a brother, or a husband, or a wife. Let it he a thorough 
work. If they express a hope, and you find they bear the 
image of Christ, they are Christians. But if that appears doubtful 
—if they do*not appear to he fully changed, just tear away their 
hope, by searching them with the most discriminating truth, and 
leave the Spirit to do the work more deeply. If still the image 
is not perfect, do it again—break them down into a child-like 
spirit, and then let them hope. They will then be clear and 
thorough Christians. By such a mode of treatment, I have 
often known people of the crookedest and hatefulest natural char¬ 
acter, so transformed in the course of a few days, that they ap¬ 
pear like different beings. You would think the work of a 
whole life of Christian cultivation had been done at once. Doubt¬ 
less thi^ was the intent of our Savior’s dealing with Peter. He 
had been converted, hut became puffed up with spiritual pride 
and self-confidence, and then he fell. After that, Christ broke 
him down again, by three times searching him with the inquiry, 
“ Simon, son of Jona, lovest thou me?” after which, he seems 
to have been a stable and devoted saint the rest of his days. 

3. There is no need of young converts having or expressing 
doubts as to their conversion. There is no more need of a per¬ 
son doubting whether he is now in favor of God’s government, 
than there is for a man to doubt whether he. is in favor of our 
government or another. It is, in fact, on the face of it, absurd, 
for a person to talk of doubting on such a point, if he is intelligent 
and understands what he is talking about. It has long been sup¬ 
posed to be a virtue, and a mark of humility, for a person to 
doubt whether he is a Christian, and this notion that there is 
virtue in doubting is a device of the devil. “ I say, neighbor, 
are you in favor of our government, or do you prefer that of Rus¬ 
sia?” “ Why, I have some hopes that I love our own govern¬ 
ment, but I have many doubts.” Wonderful! “ Woman, do 

you love your children ?” “ Why, sir, I sometimes have a trem¬ 
bling hope that I love them, but you know the best have doubts.” 
“ Wife, do you love your husband?” “ I don’t know—I some- 


INSTRUCTIONS TO VOTTNG CONVERTS. 


359 


times think I do, but you know the heart is deceitful, and we 
ought to be careful and not be too confident.” Who would have 
such a wife? “ Man, do you love your wife, do you love your 
family ?” “ Ah, you know we are poor creatures, we don’t know 
our own hearts. I think I do love them, but perhaps I am de¬ 
ceived.” Ridiculous! 

Ordinarily, the very idea of a person’s expressing doubts, ren¬ 
ders his piety truly doubtful. A real Christian has no need to 
doubt. And when one is full of doubts, ordinarily you ought 
to doubt for him and help him doubt. Affection to God is as 
much a matter of consciousness as any other affection. A wo¬ 
man knows she loves her child. How ? By consciousness. She 
is conscious of the exercise of this affection. And, then, she sees 
it carried out into action every day. l'n the same way a Christian 
may know that he loves God, by his consciousness of this affec¬ 
tion, and by seeing that it influences his daily conduct. 

In the case of young converts, truly such, these doubts gen¬ 
erally arise from their having been wrongly dealt with, and not 
sufficiently taught, or not thoroughly humbled. In any case, 
they should never be left in such a state, but should be brought, 
if possible, to such a thorough change, that they will doubt no 
longer. It is inconsistent with the greatest usefulness, for a 
Christian to be always entertaining doubts. It not only makes 
him gloomy, but it renders his religion a stumbling block to sin¬ 
ners. What do sinners think of such religion ? They say, 
“ These converts are always afraid to think they have got any 
thing real. They are always trembling, and doubting whether 
it is a reality, and they ought to know whether there is any 
thing in it or not; for if it is any thing, these people seem to have 
it, and I am inclined to think it rather doubtful. At any rate, 
I will let it pass for the present; for I don’t believe God will 
damn me for not attending to what appears so uncertain.” No, 
a cheerful, settled hope in Christ, is indispensable to usefulness, 
and therefore you should deal so with young converts, as to lead 
them to a consistent, well-grounded, stable hope. Ordinarily this 
may be done, if pursued wisely, at the proper time, and that is at 
the commencement of their religious life. And they should 
not be left till it is done. 

I know there are some exceptions, there are cases where the 
best instructions will be ineffectual, but these generally depend 
on the state of the health, and the condition of the nervous sys¬ 
tem. Sometimes you find a person incapable of reasoning on a 
certain topic, and so their errors will not yield to instruction. 
But most commonly they mistake the state of their own hearts, 


SCO 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOTJNO CONVERTS, 


because they judge under the influence of a physical disease. 
Sometimes persons under a nervous depression will go almost 
into despair. I will not take time now to show the connection, 
but persons who are acquainted with physiology will easily ex¬ 
plain the matter, and this will make it plain that the only way 
to deal with such cases is first to recruit their health, and get 
their nervous system in a proper tone, and thus remove the 
physical cause of their gloom and depression, and then they will 
be able to receive and apply your instructions to the state of their 
minds. But if you cannot remove their gloom and doubts and 
fears in this way, you can at least avoid doing any positive 
harm, by giving them wrong instructions. I have known, 
even experienced Christians, tc have the error fastened upon 
them, thinking it was necessary, or was virtuous, or a mark 
of humility to be always in doubt, and Satan would take advan¬ 
tage of it, and of the state of their health, to drive them almost 
into despair. You ought to guard against this, by avoiding the 
error in teaching young converts. Teach them that' instead 
of there being any virtue in doubting, it is a sin to have any 
reason to doubt, and a sin if they doubt without any reason, 
and a sin to be gloomy, and disgust sinners with their des¬ 
pondency. And if you teach them thoroughly what religion is, 
and make them SEE CLEARLY what God wishes to have 
them do, and lead them to do it promptly and decidedly, ordi¬ 
narily they will not be harrassed with doubts and fears, but will 
be clear, open-hearted, cheerful and growing Christians, an 
honor to the religion they profess, and a blessing to the church 
and the world. 

II. I proceed to mention some things worthy of consideration 
in regard to their making a profession of religion, or joining the 
church. 

1. Young converts should, ordinarily, offer themselves for ad¬ 
mission to some church of Christ immediately. By immediately, 
I mean that they should do it the first opportunity they have. 
They should not wait. If they set out in religion by waiting, 
most likely they will always be waiting, and never do anything 
to much purpose. If they are taught to wait under conviction, 
before they gi ve themselves up to Christ, or if they are taught to 
wait after conversion, before they give themselves publicly to 
God, by joining the church, they will probably go halting and 
stumbling along through life, The first thing they should be 
taught, always is, Never to wait where God has pointed 
out your duty. We profess to have given up the waiting 
system, let us carry it through and be consistent,- 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNO CONVERTS. 361 

While I say it is the duty of young converts to offer them¬ 
selves to the church immediately, I do not say that they should, 
in all cases, be received immediately. But the church may, and 
have an undoubted right to assume the responsibility of receiv¬ 
ing them immediately or not. If the church are not satisfied in 
the case, they have the power to bid candidates wait till they can 
make inquiries, or in any other way obtain satisfaction, as to their 
character and their sincerity. This is more necessary in large 
cities than it is in the country, because the church is liable to 
receive so many applications from persons that are entire stran¬ 
gers, where it is necessary to make inquiries before admitting 
them to communion. But if the church think it necessary to 
postpone an applicant, the responsibility is not his. He has not 
postponed obedience to the dying command of Christ, and so he 
has not grieved the Spirit away, and so he may not be essen¬ 
tially injured if he is faithful in other respects. Whereas, if he 
had neglected the duty voluntarily, he would soon get into the 
dark, and very likely backslide. 

If there is no part icular reason for delay, ordinarily the church 
ought to receive them when they apply. If they are sufficiently 
instructed on the subject of religion to know what they are doing, 
and if their general character is such that they can be trusted as 
to their sincerity and honesty in makin<ph profession, I see no 
reason why they should delay. But if there are sufficient rea¬ 
sons, in the view of the church, for making them wait a reason¬ 
able time, let them do it, on their responsibility to Jesus Christ 
They should, however, remember, what is the responsibility they 
assume, and that if they keep those out of the church who ought 
to be in it, they sin, and grieve the Holy Spirit. 

It is impossible to lay down particular rules on this subject, 
applicable to all cases. There* is so great a variety of reasons 
which may warrant keeping persons back, that no general rules 
can reach them all. Our practice, in this church, is to propound 
persons for a month after they make application, before they are 
received to full communion. The reason of this is, that the 
Session may have opportunity to inquire respecting individuals 
who offer themselves, as so many of them are strangers. But 
in the country, where there are regular congregations, and all 
the people .have been instructed from their youth in the doctrines 
of religion, and where every body is perfectly known, the case 
is different, and ordinarily I see no reason why persons of fair 
character should not be admitted immediately. If a person has 
not been a drunkard, or otherwise of bad character, let him be 

31 


362 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS, 


admitted at once, as soon as he can give a rational and satisfae- 
tory account of the hope that is in him. 

That is evidently the way the apostles did. There is not the 
least evidence in the New Testament, that they ever put off a 
person that wanted to he baptised and join the church. I know 
this does not satisfy some people, because they think the case is 
different. But I do not see it so. They say the apostles were 
inspired. That is true; but it does not follow that they were 
inspired to read the characters of men, so as to prevent their 
making mistakes in this matter. On the other hand, we know 
they were not inspired, in this way, for we know they did make 
mistakes, just as ministers may do now, and, therefore, it is not 
true that their being inspired men alters the case on this point, 
Simon Magus was supposed to be a Christian, and was baptised 
and admitted to the communion, and remained in good standing 
till he undertook to purchase the Holy Ghost with money. The 
apostles used to admit converts from Heathenism immediately, 
and without delay. If they could receive persons who, per¬ 
haps, never heard more than one gospel sermon, and who never 
had a Bible, nor attended a Sabbath-school or Bible-class in 
their lives, surely it is not necessary to wake up such an outcry 
and alarm, if a church thinks proper to receive persons of fair 
character who havelftad the Bible all their lives, and been 
trained in the Sabbath-school, and sat under the preaching of 
the gospel, and who, therefore, may be supposed to understand 
what they* are about, and not to profess what they do not feel. 

I know it may be said that persons who make a profession 
of religion now, are not obliged to make such sacrifices for their 
religion as the early believers were, and, consequently, people 
may be more ready to play the hypocrite. And, to some extent, 
that is true. But then, on the other hand, it should be remem¬ 
bered, that, with the instructions which they have on the subject 
of religion, they are not so easily led to deceive themselves, as 
those who were converted without the previous advantages of a 
religious education. They may be strongly tempted to deceive 
others, but I insist upon it, that, with the instructions which they 
have received, the converts of these great revivals are not half 
so liable to deceive themselves, and take up with a false hope, 
as they were in the days of the Apostles. And on this ground 
I believe that those churches who are faithful in dealing with 
young converts, and who exhibit habitually the power of re¬ 
ligion, are not likely to receive so many unconverted persons, 
as the Apostles did. 

It is important that the churches should act wisely on this 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 363 

point. Great evil has been done by this practice of keeping 1 
persons out of the church a long time to see if they were Chris¬ 
tians. This is almost as absurd as it would be to throw out 
a young child into the street, to see whether it will live* to say, 
if it lives and promises to be a healthy child, we will take care 
of it, when that is the very time it wants nursing, and taking 
care of, at the moment when the scale is turning, whether it 
shall live or die. Is that the way to deal with young converts ? 
Should the church throw her new-born children out to the 
winds, and say, if they live there, let them be raised; but if they 
die, they ought to die. I have not a doubt that thousands of 
converts, in consequence of this treatment, have gone through 
life, and never have joined any church, but have lingered along, 
full of doubts, and fears, and darkness, and in this way have 
spent their days, and gone to the grave without the comforts or 
the usefulness which they might have enjoyed, simply because 
the church, in her folly, has suffered them to wait outside of the 
pale, to see whether they would grow and thrive, without those 
ordinances which Jesus Christ established particularly for their 
benefit. 

Jesus Christ says to his church, “ Here, take these lambs, and 
feed them, and shelter them and , watch over them, and protect 
them and what does the Church do ? Why, turn them out 
alone upon the cold mountains, among the wild beasts, to starve 
or perish, to see whether they are alive or not. This whole 
system is as unphilosophical as it is unscjriptural. Did Jesus 
Christ tell his churches to do so? Did the God of Abraham 
teach any such doctrine as this, in regard to the children of 
Abraham? Never. He never taught us to treat young con¬ 
verts in such a barbarous manner. It is the very best way that 
could be taken to render it doubtful whether they are converts. 
The very way to lead them into doubts and darkness, is to keep 
them away from the church, from its fellowship, and its ordi¬ 
nances. 

I have understood there is a church, not very far from here, 
who have passed a resolution that no young converts shall be 
admitted till they have had a hope for at least six months. 
Where did they get any such rule? Not from the Bible, nor 
the example of the early churches. 

3. In examining young converts for admission to the church, 
their consciences should not be ensnared by examining them too 
extensively or minutely on doctrinal points. From the manner 
in which examinations are conducted in some churches, it would 
seem as if they expected that young converts would be all at 


364 INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

once acquainted with the whole system of divinity, and able to 
answer every puzzling question in theology. The effect of it is, 
that young converts are perplexed and confused, and give their 
assent to things they do not understand, and thus their conscience 
is ensnared, and consequently weakened. Why, one great de¬ 
sign of receiving young converts into the church, is to teach 
them doctrines, but if they are to be kept out of the church till 
they understand the whole system of doctrines, this end is de¬ 
feated. Will you keep them out till one main design of receiv¬ 
ing them is accomplished by other means? It is absurd. There 
are certain cardinal doctrines of Christianity, which are em¬ 
braced in the experience of every true convert. And these, 
young converts will testify to them, on their examination, if they 
are questioned in such a way as to draw out their knowledge, and 
not in such a way as to puzzle and confound them. The ques¬ 
tions should be such, as are calculated to draw out from them, 
what they have learned by experience, and not what they may 
have got in theory before or since their conversion. The object 
is, not to find out how much they know, or how good scholars 
they are in divinity, as you would examine a school, or a num¬ 
ber of young men striving for a premium. It is to find out 
whether they have a change of hearty to learn whether they 
have experienced the great truths of religion by their power in 
their own souls. You see therefore how absurd, and injurious 
too, it must be, to examine as is sometimes done, like a lawyer at 
the bar, cross-examining a suspicious witness. It should rather 
be like a faithful physician anxious to find out his patient’s true 
condition, and therefore leading his mind, by inquiries and hints, 
to disclose the real symptoms of his case. 

You will always find, if you put your questions right, that 
real converts will see clearly those great fundamental points, the 
divine authority of the scriptures, the necessity of the influences 
of the Holy Spirit, the divinity of Christ, the doctrine of total 
depravity and regeneration, the necessity of the atonement, jus¬ 
tification by faith, and the eternal punishment of the wicked. 
By a proper course of inquiries you will find all these points 
come out, as a part of their experience, if you put your questions 
in such a way that they understand them. 

A church session in this city have, as we are informed, pass¬ 
ed a vote, that no person shall join that church till he will give 
his assent to the whole Presbyterian Confession of Faith, and 
adopt it as his “rule of faith and practice and Christian obedi¬ 
ence.” That is, they must read the book through, which is 
about three times as large as this hymn-book, and must under- 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


365 


stand it, and agree to it all, before they can be admitted to the 
church, before they can make a profession of religion, or obey 
the command of Christ. By what authority does a church say 
that no one shall join their communion till he understands all 
the points and technicalities of this long confession of faith? Is 
that their charity, to cram this whole confession of faith down 
the throat of a young convert, before they let him so much as 
come to the communion? He says, “I love the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and wish to obey his command.” “Very well, but do 
you understand and adopt the confession of Faith?” He says, 
44 1 don’t know, for I never read that, but I have read the Bible, 
and I love that, and wish to follow the directions in it, and to 
come to the table of the Lord.” “ Do you love the confession 
of faith? If not, you shan’t come,” is the reply of this chari¬ 
table session, “ you shan’t sit down at the Lord’s table, till you 
have adopted all this confession of faith.” Did Jesus Christ 
ever authorise a church session to say this—to tell that child of 
God, who stands there with tears, and asks permission to obey 
his Lord, and who understands the grounds of his faith, and can 
give a satisfactory reason of his hope, to tell him he cannot join 
the church till he understands the confession of “faith ? No doubt, 
Jesus Christ is angry with such a church, and he will show his 
displeasure in a way that admits of no mistake, if they do not re¬ 
pent. Shut the door against young converts till they swallow the 
confession of faith! And will such a church prosper? Never. 

No church on earth has a right to impose its extended con¬ 
fession of faith on a young convert, who admits the fundamen¬ 
tals of religion. They may let the young convert know their 
own faith on ever so'many points, and they may examine him, 
if they think it necessary, as to his belief; but suppose he has 
doubts on some points not essential to Christian experience, as 
the doctrine of Infant Baptism, or of Election, or the Persever¬ 
ance of the Saints, and suppose he honestly and frankly tells 
you he has not made up his mind concerning these points. Has 
any minister or church a right to say, he shall not come to the 
Lord’s table, till he has finished all his researches into these sub¬ 
jects ? That he shall not obey Jesus Christ till he has fully 
made up his mind on every such point, on which Christians, ac¬ 
knowledged and devoted ones too, differ among themselves? I 
would sooner cut off my right hand than debar a convert under 
such circumstances. I would teach a young convert as well as 
I could in the time before he made his application, and I would 
examine him candidly as to his views, and after he was in the 
church, I would endeavor to make him grow in knowledge as 

31* 


366 INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS 

he grows in grace. And by just as much confidence as I have 
that my own doctrines are the doctrines of God, I should expect 
to make him adopt them, if I could have a fair hearing before 
his mind. But I never would bid one, whom I charitably be¬ 
lieved to be a child of God, to stay away from his Father’s table, 
because he did not see all I see, or believe all I believe, through 
the whole system of divinity. The thing is utterly irrational, 
ridiculous and wicked. 

4. Sometimes persons who are known to entertain a hope, 
dare not make a profession of religion for fear they should be 
deceived. I would always deal decidedly with such cases. A 
hope that will not warrant a profession of religion, is manifestly 
worse than no hope, and the sooner it is torn away the better. 
Shall a man hope he loves God, and yet dares not obey Jesus 
Christ? Preposterous. Such a hope had better be given up at 
once. 

5. Sometimes persons professing to be converts will make an 
excuse for not joining the church, that they can enjoy religion 
just-as ivell without it. This is always suspicious, [should 
look out for such characters. It is almost certain they have no 
religion. Ordinarily, if a person does not desire to be associated 
with the people of God, he is rotten at the bottom. It is be¬ 
cause he wants to keep out of the responsibilities of a public 
profession. He has a feeling within him, that he had rather be 
free, so that he can by and by go back to the world again if he 
dikes, without the reproach of instability or hypocrisy. Enjoy 
religion just as well without obeying Jesus Christ! It is false 
on the face of it. He overlooks the fact that religion consists 
in obeying Jesus Christ. 

III. I am to consider the importance of giving right instruc¬ 
tion to young converts. 

Ordinarily, their Christian character through life is moulded 
and fashioned according to the manner in which they are dealt 
with when first converted. There are many who have been 
poorly taught at first, but have been afterwards re-converted , 
and if they are then dealt with properly, they may be made 
something of. But the proper time to do this is when they are 
first brought in, when their minds are soft and tender, and easily 
yield to the truth. Then they may be led with a hair, if they 
think it is the truth of God. And whatever notions in religion 
they get then, they are apt to cleave to for ever afterwards. It is 
almost impossible to get away a man’s notions that he got when 
he was a young convert. You may reason him down, but he 
cleaves to them. How often is it the case where persons have 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


367 


been taught certain things when first converted, and they af¬ 
terwards get a new minister, who teaches somewhat differently, 
these people will perhaps rise up against him as if he was going 
to subvert the faith and carry away the church to error, and 
throw every thing into confusion. Thus you see that young 
converts are thrown into the hands of the church, and it de¬ 
pends on the church to mould them, and form them into Chris¬ 
tians of the right stamp.—Much of their future comfort and 
usefulness depends on the manner in which they are instructed 
at the outset. The future character of the church, the progress 
of revivals, the coming of the millenium, depend on having right 
instruction given, and a right direction of thought and life to 
those who are young converts. 

IV. I am to mention somethings which should not be taught 
to young converts. 

1. “ You won’.t always feel as you do now.” When the 
young convert is rejoicing in his Savior, and calculating to live 
for the glory of God and the good of mankind, how often is he 
met with this reply, “ You won’t always feel so.” Thus prepar¬ 
ing his mind to expect that he shall backslide, and not to bo 
much surprised when he does. This is just the way the d-'vil 
wants young converts dealt with, to have old Christians tell 
them your feelings will not last, and that by and by you will be 
as cold as we are. It has made my heart bleed to see it. When 
the young convert has been pouring out his warm heart to some 
old professor, and expecting to meet the warm burstings of a 
kindred spirit responding to his own, what does he meet with ? 
This cold answer, coming like a northern blast over his soul, 
“You won’t always feel so.” SHAME ! Just preparing the 
young convert to expect that he shall backslide as a matter 
of course; so that when he begins to decline, as under the. very 
influences of this instruction it is most likely he will, it produces 
no surprise or alarm in his mind, but he looks at it just as a 
thing of course,, doing as every body else does. 

I have heard it preached as well as prayed, that seasons of 
backsliding are necessary to test the church. They say, “when 
it rains, you can find water anywhere: it is only in seasons 
of drought that you can tell where the deep springs are.” Won¬ 
derful logic ! And so you would teach that Christians must get 
cold and stupid, and backslide from God, and for what reason? 
Why forsooth, to show that they are not hypocrites. Amazing! 
You would prove that they are hypocrites in order to show 
that they are not. 


368 INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

Such doctrine as this is the very last that should be taught to 
young converts. They should be told that now they have only 
begun the Christian life, and that their religion is to consist in 
going rn in it. They should be taught to go forward all the 
time, ai.J grow in grace continually. Do not teach them to 
taper off their religion, let it grow smaller and smaller till it 
comes to a point. God says, “ The path of the just, is as the 
shining light, that shineth more and more to the perfect day.” 
Now whose path is that, which grows dimmer and dimmer 
until the perfect night ? They should be brought to such a state 
of mind, that the first indications of decay'in spirituality or zeal 
will alarm them and spur them up to duty. There is no need 
that young converts should backslide as they do. Paul did 
not backslide. And I do not doubt that this very doctrine, 
“You won’t always feel so,” is one of the grand devices ol 
Satan to bring about the result which it predicts. 

2. “ Learn to walk by faith and not by sight.” This is some¬ 
times said to young converts in reference to their continuing 
to exhibit the power of religion, and is a manifest perversion of 
scripture. If they begin to lose their faith and zeal, and to get 
into darkness, some old professor will tell them, “ Ah, you can’t 
expect to have the Savior always with you, you have been walking 
by sight, you must learn to walk by faith and not by sight.” That 
is, you must learn to get as cold as death, and then hang on to the 
doctrine of the Saint’s Perseverance, as your only ground of 
hope that you shall be saved. And that is walking by faith. 
Cease to 'persevere and then hold on to the doctrine of persever¬ 
ance. “ One of guilt’s blunders, and the loudest laugh of hell.” 
And living in the enjoyment of God’s favor and the comforts 
of the Holy Ghost, they call walking by sight! Do you sup¬ 
pose young converts see the Savior at the time they believe on 
him ? When they are so full of the enjoyments of heaven, do 
you suppose they see heaven, and so walk by sight? It is 
absurd on the face of it. It is not faith, it is presumption , that 
makes a backslider hold on to the doctrine of perseverance as 
if that would save him, without any sensible exercises of god¬ 
liness in his soul. Those who attempt to walk by faith in this 
way had better take care, or they will walk into hell with their 
faith. Faith indeed ! Faith without works is dead.—Can 
dead faith make the soul live? 

3. “Wait till you see whether you can hold out.” When 
a young convert feels zealous and warm-hearted, and wants to 
lay himself out for God, some prudent old professor will cau- 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


369 


tion him not to go too fast. “ You had better not be too for¬ 
ward in religion, till you see whether you can holdout; for if 
you take this high ground and then fall, you will disgrace re¬ 
ligion.” That is, in plain English, “ Don’t do any thing that 
constitutes religion, till you see whether you have religion.” 
Religion consists in obeying God. Now these wise teachers 
tell a young convert, “ Don’t obey God till you see”-—what? 
—till you see whether you have obeyed him—or, till you see 
whether you have gotten that substance, that mysterious thing 
which they imagine is created and put into a man, like a lump 
of new flesh, and called religion. This waiting system is all 
alike, and all wrong. There is no scripture warrant for tell¬ 
ing a person to wait, whoa the command of God is upon him, 
and the path of duty before him. Let him go along. 

Young converts should be fully taught that this is the only 
consistent way to find out whether they have any religion.— 
The only evidence they can have is to find that they are heartily 
engaged in doing the will of God. To tell him to wait, there¬ 
fore, before he does these things, till he first gets his evidence, 
is reversing the matter, and is absurd. 

4. “ Wait till you get strength, before you take up the cross.” 
This is applied to various religious duties. Sometimes it is ap¬ 
plied to prayer, just as if prayer was a cross. But I have 
known young converts advised not to attempt to pray in their 
families, or not to attempt quite yet to pray in meetings and 
social circles. “ Wait till you get strength.” Just as if they 
would get Strength without exercise. Strength comes by ex¬ 
ercise. You cannot get strength by lying still. Let a child 
lie in the cradle all his life, and he would never have any 
strength, he might grow in size, but he never could be any 
thing more than a great baby. This is a law of nature. There 
is no substitute for exercise in producing strength. The body 
as every one knows, can be strengthened only by exercise.— 
It is so in the nature of things. And it is just so with the 
mind. It is so with the affections, so with the judgment, so with 
conscience. All the powers of the soul are strengthened by 
exercise. I need not now enter into the philosophy of this.— 
Every body knows it is so. If the mind is not exercised, the 
brain will not grow, and the man will become an idiot. If the 
affections are not exercised he will become a stoic. To talk to 
a convert about neglecting Christian action till he gets strength, 
is absurd. If he wants to gain strength, let him go to work. 

5. Young converts should not be made sectarian in their 
feelings. They should not be taught to dwell upon sectarian 


370 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


distinctions, or to be sticklish about sectarian points. They 
ought to examine these points, at a proper time, and in a proper 
way, and make up their minds for themselves, according to 
their importance. But they should not be taught to dwell upon 
them, or to make much of them in'the outset of their religious 
life. Otherwise there is great danger that their whole religion 
will run into sectarianism. I have seen some most sad and 
melancholy exhibitions of the effects of this upon young con¬ 
verts. And whenever I see professed converts taking a strong 
hold of sectarian peculiarities, no matter of what denomination 
of Christians, I always feel in doubt about them. When I hear 
them asking, “ Do you believe in the doctrine of election?” or, 
“ Do you believe in sprinkling?”, or, “ Do you believe in plung¬ 
ing?” I feel sad. I never knew such converts to be worth 
much. Their sectarian zeal soon sours their feelings, eats out 
all the heart of their religion, and moulds their whole charac¬ 
ter into sinful sectarian bigotry. They generally become 
mighty zealous for the traditions of the elders, and very little 
concerned for the salvation of souls. 

V. I proceed to mention some of the things which it is im¬ 
portant should be taught to young-converts. 

1. One af the first things young converts should be taught 
is to distinguish between emotion and principle in religion. 
Do you understand me ? I am going to explain what I mean, 
but I want you to get hold of the words, and have them fixed 
in your mind. What I tvant is to have you distinguish be¬ 
tween emotion and principle. 

By emotion, I mean that state of mind of which we are con¬ 
scious, and which we call feeling , an involuntary staie of mind, 
that arises of course when we are in certain circumstances or 
under certain influences. There may be high-wrought feel¬ 
ings, or they may subside into tranquillity, or disappear en¬ 
tirely. But these emotions should be carefully distinguished 
from religious principle. By principle I do not mean any sub¬ 
stance or root or seed or sprout implanted in the soul. But I 
mean the voluntary decision of the mind, the firm determina¬ 
tion to act out duty and to obey the will of God, by which a 
Christian should always be governed. When a man is fully 
determined to obey God, because it is RIGHT that he should 
obey God, I call that principle. Whether he feels any lively 
religious emotion at the time or not, he will do his duty cheer¬ 
fully, and readily, and heartily, whatever may be the state of his 
feelings. This is acting upon principle, and not from emotion. 
Many young converts have mistaken views upon this subject, 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS, S71 

and depend almost entirely upon the state of their feelings to 
go forward in duty. Some will not lead in a prayer meeting, 
unless they feel as if they could make an eloquent prayer. 
Multitudes are influenced almost entirely by their emotions, and 
they give way to this, as if they thought themselves under no 
obligation to duty, unless urged on by some strong emotion. 
They will be very zealous in religion when they feel like it, 
when their emotions are warm and lively, but they will not act 
out religion consistently, and carry it into all the concerns of life. 
They are religious only as they are impelled by a gush of 
feeling. 

Young converts should be carefully taught, when duty is be¬ 
fore them to do it. However dull their feelings may be, if duty 
calls, do it. Don’t wait for feeling, but DO IT. Most likely 
the very emotionsfor which you would wait will be called into 
exercise when you begin to do your duty. If the duty is prayer, 
for instance, and you have not the feelings you would wish, do 
not wait for emotions before-you pray, but pray, and open your 
mouth wide. And in doing it, you are most likely to have the 
emotions for which you were inclined to wait, and which con¬ 
stitute the conscious happiness of religion. 

2. Young converts should be taught that they have renounced 
the ownership of all their possessions , and of themselves , or if they 
have not done this they are not Christians. They should not be 
left to think that any thing is their own, their time, property, im 
fluence, faculties, bodies or souls. “Ye are not your own all 
belongs to God; and when they submitted to God they made a 
free surrender of all to him, to be ruled and disposed of at his 
pleasure. They have no right to spend one hour as if their 
time was their own. No right to go any where, or do any 
thing, for themselves, but should hold all at the disposal of God, 
and employ all for the glory of God. If they do not, they 
ought not to call themselves Christians, for the very idea of 
being a Christian is to renounce self and become entirely con¬ 
secrated to God. A man has no more right to withhold any 
thing from God, than he has to rob or steal. It is robbery in the 
highest sense of the term. It is an infinitely higher crime than 
it would be for a clerk in a store to go and take the money of his 
employer, and spend it on his own lusts and pleasures. I mean, 
that for a man to withhold from God, is a higher crime against 
him, than a man can commit against his fellow man, inasmuch 
as God is the owner of all things in an infinitely higher sense 
than man can be the owner of any thing. If God calls on them 
to employ any thing they have, their money, or their time, or to 


372 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


give their children, or to dedicate themselves, in advancing his 
kingdom, and they refuse, because they want to use them in their 
own way, or prefer to do something else, it is vastly more blama- 
tie than for a clerk or an agent to go and embezzle the money 
that is intrusted him by his employer, and spend it for his family, 
or lay it out in bank stock or in speculation for himself. 

God is, in an infinitely higher sense, the owner of all, than 
any employer can be said to be the owner of what he has. And 
the church of Christ never will take high ground, never will be 
disentangled from the world, never will be able to go forward 
without these continual declensions and backslidings, until Chris¬ 
tians, and the churches generally, take the ground, and hold to 
it, that it is just as much a matter of discipline for a church 
member practically to deny his stewardship as to deny the di¬ 
vinity of Christ, and that covetousness fairly proved shall just 
as certainly exclude a man from communion as adultery. 

The church is mighty orthodox in notions , but very heretical 
in practice, but the time must come when the church will be just 
as vigilant in guarding orthodoxy in practice as orthodoxy in doc¬ 
trine, and just as prompt to turn out heretics in practice as here¬ 
tics that corrupt the doctrines of the gospel. In fact, it is vastly 
more important. The only design of doctrine is to produce 
practice, and it. does not seem to be understood by the church, 
that true faith “ works by love and purifies the heart,” that her¬ 
esy in practice, is proof conclusive of heresy in sentiment. The 
church are very sticklish for correct doctrine and very careless 
about correct living. This is preposterous. Has it come to this, 
that the church of Jesus Christ is to be satisfied with correct 
notions on some abstract points, and never reduce her orthodoxy 
to practice? Let it be so no longer. 

It is high time these matters were set right. And the only 
way to set them right, is to begin right with those -who are just 
entering upon religion. Young converts must be told that they 
are just as worthy of damnation, and that the church cannot and 
will not hold fellowship with them, if they show a covetous spirit, 
and turn a deaf ear when the whole world is calling for help, as 
if they were living in adultery, or in the daily worship of idols. 

3. Teach them how to cultivate a tender conscience. I have 
often been amazed to find how little conscience there is, even 
among those who we hope are Christians. And here we see 
the reason of it. Their consciences were never cultivated. 
They never were taught and told how to cultivate a tender con¬ 
science. They have not even a natural conscience. They have 
dealt so rudely with their conscience, and resisted it so often; 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 373 

that .^ as & ot hl unte( h and does not act. The usefulness of a 
Christian, greatly depends on his knowing how to cultivate his 
conscience. Young converts should he taught to keep their con¬ 
science just as tender as the apple of the eye. They should 
watch their conduct and their motives, and let their motives be 
so pure and their conduct so disinterested as not to offend or in¬ 
jure or stifle conscience. They should maintain such a habit of 
listening to conscience, that it will be always ready to give forth 
a stern verdict on all occasions. It is astonishing to see how 
much the conscience may be cultivated by a proper course. If 
rightly attended tb, ^t may be made so pure, and so powerful, that 
it will always respond exactly to the word of God. Present any 
duty to such a Christian, or any self-denial, Or suffering, and only 
show him the word of God and he will da it without a word. In 
a few months if properly taught and attended to, young converts 
may have a conscience so delicately poised that the Weight of a 
feather will turn them. Only bring a “ Thus saith the Lord,” 
and they will be always ready to do that, be it what it may. 

4. Young con verts should be taught io pray without ceasing. 
That is, they should always keep up a watch over their minds, 
and be all the time in a prayerful spirit. They should be taught 
to pray always, whatever may take place. For the want of right 
instruction on this point many young converts suffer loss and 
get far away from God. For instance, sometimes it happens that 
a young convert will fall into some sin, and then he feels as if he 
could not pray, and instead of overcoming this he feels so dis¬ 
tressed that he waits for the keen edge of his distress to pass 
away. Instead of going right to Jesus Christ in the midst of 
his agony, and confessing his sin out of the fulness of his heart 
and getting a renewed pardon and peace restored, he waits till 
all the keenness of his feelings have subsided, and then his re¬ 
pentance, if he does repent, is cold and half-hearted. Let me 
tell you beloved, never to do this, but when your conscience 
presses you, go then, right to Christ, confess your sin fully, and 
pour out your heart to God. 

Sometimes people will neglect to pray because they are in the 
dark, and feel no desire to pray. But that is the very time 
when they need prayer. That is the very reason why they 
ought to pray. You should go right to God and confess your 
cpldness and darkness of mind. Tell him just how you feel. 
Tell him “ O Lord, I have no desire to pray, but I know I ought 
to pray.” And the first you will know, the Spirit may come, 
and lead your heart out in prayer, and all the dark clouds will 
pass away. 


32 



374 INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

5. Young converts should be faithfully warned against adopt¬ 
ing a false standard in religion. They should not be left to 
fall in behind old professors, and keep them before their minds 
as a standard of holy living. They should always look at 
Christ as their model. Not aim at being as good Christians as 
the old church members, and not think they are doing pretty 
well because they are as much awake as the old members of the 
church. But they should aim at being holy, and not rest satis¬ 
fied till they are as perfect as God. The church has been greatly 
injured for the want of attention to this matter. Young con¬ 
verts have come forward, and their hearts were warm and their 
zeal ardent enough to aim at a high standardf but they were not 
directed property, and so they sopn settle down into the notion that 
what is good enough for others is good enough for them, and 
therefore they never aim higher than those who are before them. 
And in this way the church instead of rising with every revival 
higher and higher in holiness, is kept nearly stationary. 

6. Young converts should be taught to do all their duty. 
They should never make a compromise with duty, nor think of 
saying “ I will do this as an offset for neglecting that” They 
should never rest satisfied till they have done their duty of every 
kind, in relation to their families, the church, Sabbath Schools, 
the impenitent around them, the disposal of their property, the 
conversion of the world. Let them do their duty, as they feel it 
when their hearts are warm ; and never attempt to pick and 
choose among the commandments of God. 

7. They should be made to feel that they have no separate in¬ 
terest. It is time Christians were made actually to feel that 
they have no interest whatever, separate from the interest of Jesus 
Christ and his kingdom. They should understand that they are 
incorporated into the family of Jesus Christ, as members in full, 
so that their whole interest is identified with his. They are 
embarked with him, they have gone on board, and taken their 
all. And henceforth they have nothing to do, or nothing to say, 
except as it is connected with this interest and bearing on the 
cause and kingdom of Christ. 

8. They should be taught to maintain singleness of motive. 
Young converts should not begin to have a double mind, on 
any subject, or let selfish motives mingle in with good motives 
in any thing they do. But this can never be, so long as Chris¬ 
tians are allowed to hold a separate interest of their own, dis¬ 
tinct from the interest of Jesus Christ. If they feel that they 
have a separate interest, it is impossible to keep them from re¬ 
garding it, and having an eye to it as well as to Christ’s in- 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


375 


Merest, in many things that they do. It is only by becoming 
entirely consecrated to God, and giving up all to his service, 
that they can ever l^eep their eye single and their motives pure. 

9. They should set out with a determination to a\m at being, 
useful in the highest degree possible. They should not rest 
satisfied with merely being useful, or remaining in a situation 
where they can do some good. But if they See an opportunity 
where they can do more good, they must embrace it, whatever 
may be the sacrifice to themselves. No .matter what it may 
cost them, no matter what danger or what suffering, no mat¬ 
ter what change in tl^eir outward circumstances, or habits, or 
employments it may .lead to. If they are satisfied that they will 
on the whole do more good, they should not even hesitate. How 
else can they be like God? How can they think to bear the 
image of Jesus Christ, if they are not prepared to do all the 
good that is in their power? When a man is converted he 
comes into a new world, and should consider himself as a hew 
man. If he finds he can do the most good by remaining in his 
old employment, let it be so. But if he can do moje good in 
some other way, he is bound to change. It is for the want of 
attention to this subject, in the outset, that Christians have got 
such low ideas on the subject of duty. And that is the reason 
why there are so many useless members in our churches. 

10. They must be taught not to aim at comfort but useful¬ 
ness in religion. There are a great many spiritual epicures in 
the churches, who are all the while seeking to be happy in re¬ 
ligion, while they take very little pains to .be useful. They had 
much rather spend their time in singing joyful hymns, and in 
pouring out their happy feelings in a gushing tide of exultation 
and triumph, than to spend it in agonizing prayer for sinners, 
or in going about and pulling dying men out of the fire. 'They 
seem to feel as if they were born to enjoy themselves. But I do 
not think such Christians show such fruits as to make their ex¬ 
ample one to be imitated. Such was not the temper of the 
apostles. They travailed for souls, and laboured in weariness 
and painfulness, and in deaths oft, to save sinners. Nor is it 
safe. Ordinarily, Christians are not qualified to drink deep at 
the fountain of joy. In ordinary cases, a deep agony of prayer 
for souls is more profitable than high flights of joy. . Let young 
converts be taught, plainly, not to calculate upon a life of joy 
and triumph. * They may be called to go through fiery trials. 
Satan may sift them like wheat. But they must go forward, not 
calculating so much to ‘be happy as to be useful, not talking 
about comfort but duty, not desiring flights of joy and triumph, 


376 INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

but hungering and thirsting after righteousness, not studying how 
to create new flights of rapture, but how to know the will of 
God, and do it. They will be happy enough in heaven. There 
they may sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. And they 
will in fact enjoy a more solid and rational happiness here, by 
thinking nothing about it, but patiently devoting themselves to 
do the will of God. 

11. They should be taught to have moral courage , and not 
to be afraid of going forward in duty. The Bible insists'fully 
on Christian boldness and courage, in action 1 as a duty. I do 
not mean that they should indulge in their bravadoes, like Peter, 
telling what they will do, and boasting of their courage. The 
boaster is generally a coward at heart. But I mean moral cou¬ 
rage, a humble and fixed decision of purpose, that will go for¬ 
ward in any duty, unangered and unawed, with the meekness 
and firmness of the Son of God. 

12. They should be so instructed as to be sound in the faith. 
That is, they should be early made, as far as possible, complete 
and correct in regard to their doctrinal belief. As soon as may 
be, without turning their minds off from their practical duties, 
in promoting the glory of God and the salvation of men, they 
should be taught fully and plainly, all the leading doctrines of 
the Bible. Doctrinal knowledge is indispensible to growth in 
grace. Knowledge is the food of the mind. “ That the soul 
be without knowledge,” says the Wise Man, “ It is not good.” 
The mind cannot grow without knowledge, any more than the 
body without food. And therefore it is important that young 
converts should be thoroughly indoctrinated, and made to un¬ 
derstand the Bible. By indoctrinating I do not mean teach¬ 
ing the catechism, but teaching them to draw knowledge from 
the fountain head. Create in their minds such an appetite for 
knowledge that they will eat the Bible up, will devour it, will 
love it and love it all. All scripture is profitable, that the man 
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good 
w r orks. 

13. Great pains should be taken to guard young converts 

against censoriousness. Young converts, when they first come 
out on the Lord’s side, and are all warm and zealous, sometimes 
find old professors so cold and dead that they are strongly tempt¬ 
ed to be censorious. This should be corrected immediately, 
otherwise the habit will poison their minds and’ destroy their 
religion. • 

14. They must learn to say, No. This is a very difficult les¬ 
son to many. See that young woman. Formerly she loved 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 


377 


the gay circle, and to.k delight in its pleasures. She joined the 
church, and then found herself aloof from all her old associates. 
They ask her not now, to their balls and parties, because they 
know she will not join them, and perhaps they keep entirely 
away for a time, for fear she Should converse with them about 
their souls. But by and by they grow a little bold, and some of 
them venture to ask her just to take a ride with a few friends. 
She does not like to say, No. They are her old friends, only 
a few of them are going, and surely a Tide is so innocent a 
recreation, that she accepts the invitation. But now she has be¬ 
gun to comply, the ice is broken, and they have her again as 
one of them. It goes on, and she begins to attend their social 
visits—“ only a few friends,” you know, till by and by the carpet 
is taken up for a dance, and the next thing, perhaps, she is gone 
to a sleigh ride, on .Saturday night, and comes home after mid¬ 
night, and then sleeps all the forenoon-on the Sabbath to make 
up for it, perhaps communion Sabbath too. All for the want of 
learning to say, No. 

See that young man. For a time he was always in his place, 
in the Sabbath school and in the prayer meeting: But by and 
by his old friends begin to treat him with attention again, and 
they draw him along step by step. Every one seems a very 
small thing, and it would look like rudeness to deny so small a 
thing. He reasons that if he refuses to go with them in things 
that are innocent, he will lose his influence with them And so he 
goes on, till prayer meeting, bible class, and even Bible and closet 
are neglected. Ah, young man, stop there! Go only a little 
farther without learning to say, No, and you are gone. If you 
do not wish to hang up the cause of Christ to scorn and con¬ 
tempt, learn to resist the beginnings of temptation. Otherwise 
it will come upon you, by and by, like the letting out of water. 

15. They should be taught, what is and what is not Christian 
experience. It is necessary, both for their comfort and their 
usefulness, that they should understand this, so that they need 
not run themselves into needless distress for the want of that 
which is by no means essential to Christian experience, nor flat¬ 
ter themselves that they have more religion than they really 
exercise. But I cannot dwell on this topic to-night. 

16. Teach them not to count any thing a sacrifice which they 
do for God. Some persons are always telling about the sacri¬ 
fices they make in religion. I have no confidence in such piety. 
Why keep telling about their sacrifices, as if every thing they 
did for God was a sacrifice. If they loved God they would not 
talk so. If they considered their own interests and the interest 

32* 


378 INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 

, . f 

of Christ, identical, they would not talk of making sacrifices 
for Christ; it would be like talking of making sacrifies for them¬ 
selves. 4 

17. It is of great importance that young converts should 
be taught to be strictly honest. I mean more by this than 
perhaps you would think. It is a great thing to be strictly ho¬ 
nest. It is being very different from the world at large, and 
very different even from the great body of professors of religion. 
The holiest man I ever knew, and one who had been many 
years a Christian and a minister, once made the remark to me, 
“ Brother, it is a great thing to be strictly honest, upright, 
straight, in every thing, so that God’s pure eye can see that the 
und is perfectly upright.” 

It is of the utmost importance that young converts should 
understand what it is to be strictly honest in every thing , so that 
they can maintain a conscience .void of offence, both towards 
God and towards men. Alas, alas ! how little conscience there is. 
How little of that real honesty, that pure, simple uprightness, 
which ought to mark the life of a child of God. How little 
do many regard even an express promise. I heard the other 
day of a number of individuals who subscribed to the Anti- 
Slavery Society, and not half of them will pay their subscrip¬ 
tions. The plea is, that they signed when they were under ex¬ 
citement and they don’t choose to pay. Just as if their being 
excited released them from the obligation to keep their promise. 
Why it is just As dishonest as it would be to refuse payment of 
a note of hand. They promised, signed their names, did they, 
and now won’t pay ? And they call that honesty ! 

I have heard that there are a number of men in the city who 
have signed hundreds of dollars for the Oneida Institute, prom¬ 
ising to pay the money when called on ; and when they were 
called on they refused to pay the money. And the reason was, 
they had all turned abolitionists in the Institute. Very well. 
Sifpposethey have. Does that alter your promise? Did you 
sign on the condition that if they got Abolitionism introduced 
there you should be clear ? If you did, then you are clear.— 
But if you gave your promise without any condition, it is just 
.as dishonest to refuse as if you had given a note of hand.— 
And yet some of you might be almost angry if any body should 
charge you with refusing to pay money when you promised it. 

Look at this seriously. Who does God say will go to heaven ? 
Read the 15th Psalm,and see. “He that sweareth to his own 
hurt, and changeth not .” What do you think of that? If a 
man has promised any thing, except it be to commit sin , let him 


INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG CONVERTS. 379 

keep his promise, if he means to be honest or to go to heaven. 
But here these people will make promises, and because they 
cannot be proseouted, wjll break them as easily as if they were 
nothing. They would not let a note be protested at the bank. 
Why ? Because they w r ould lose credit, and would be sued. 
But the Oneida Institute, and the Anti-Slavery Society, and 
other societies, will not sue for the money, and therefore these 
people take some offence at something, and refuse to pay. Is 
this honest? Will such honesty as this get them admitted to 
heaven ? What? Break your promises, and go up and carry 
a lie in your hand before God ? If you refuse or neglect to ful¬ 
fill your promise you are a liar , and if you persist in this,, you* 
shall have your part irt the lake that burns ^ith fire and brim¬ 
stone. I would not for ten thousand worlds, die with money 
in my hands, that I ha*d unrighteously withheld from any other 
object to which I had promised it. Such money will “eat like 
a canker.” 

If you are not able to pay the money, that is a good excuse. 
But then say so. But if you refuse to pay what you have prom¬ 
ised, because you have altered your mind, rely upon it, you 
are guilty. You cannot pray till you pay that money.—What 
will you pray ? “ O Lord, I promised to give that money, but 
I altered my mind, and broke my promise, but still, O Lord, I 
pray thee to bless me, and forgive my sin, although I keep my 
money, and make me happy in thy love.” Will such prayers 
be heard ? Never. 

But, brethren, I find it impossible to touch upon all the 
points I intended to speak upon, and so I will break off here, 
and finish this subject another time. 




LECTURE XX. 

/ 

INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 

Text.— “Feed my lambs.”—John xxi. 15. 

I remarked on this text in my last lecture, and was obliged, 
for want of time, to omit many of the points which I wished to 
present in regard to the 

% % 0 * ■> 

INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 

To-night I propose to continue the subject by noticing, 

I. Several other points upon which young converts ought to 
be instructed. 

II. To show the manner in which young converts should be 
treated by the church. 

III. Mention some of the evils which naturally result from 
defective instructions given in that stage of Christian experience. 

I. I shall pursue the subject, taking it up where I left off, by 
mentioning some further instructions which it is important should 
be given to young converts. 

1. It is of great importance that young converts should early 
be made to understand what religion consists in. Perhaps you 
will be surprised at my mentioning this. “ What! Are they 
converts, and do they not know what religion consists in ?” I 
answer, They would know, if they had had no instruction but 
such as is drawn from the Bible. But multitudes of people have 
imbibed such notions about religion, that not only young con 
verts, but a great part of the church do not know what religion 
consists in, so as to have a clear and distinct idea of it. There 
are njany ministers who do not. I do not mean to say that they 
have no religion, for it may be charitably believed they have; 
but what I mean is, that they do not discriminate as to what it 
consists in, and cannot give a correct statement of what does 
and what does not constitute real religion. It is important that 
young converts should be taught, 

Negatively, what religion does not consist in 

(1.) Not i n doctrinal knowledge. Knowledge is essential to 
religion, but it is not religion. The devil has doctrinal know¬ 
ledge, but he has no religion. A man may have doctrinal know- 


/ 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


381 


ledge to any extent, without a particle of religion. Yet some 
peop.e have very strange ideas on this subject, as though having 
doctrinal knowledge indicated an increase of piety. I once 
heard a remark of this kind. In a certain instance, where some 
young converts had made rapid progress in doctrinal know¬ 
ledge, a person who saw it said, “ How these young converts 
grow in grace.” Here he confounded improvement in knowledge 
with improvement in piety. The truth was, that he had ndmeans 
of judging of their growth in grace, and it was no evidence of it 
because they were making progress in doctrinal knowledge. 

(2.) They should be taught that religion, is not a substance. 
It is not any root, or sprout,’or seed, or any thing else in the 
mind, as a part of the mind itself. Persons ofter* speak of re¬ 
ligion as if it was something that may be covered up in the 
mind, just as a spark of fire may be covered up in the ashes, 
which does not show itself, and which produces no effects, but 
yet lives and is ready to act as soon as it is uncovered. And in 
like manner they think they may have religion, as something 
remaining in them', although they do not manifest it by obeying 
God. But they should be taught that this is not the nature of re¬ 
ligion. It is no part of the mind itself, or of the body, nor is it 
a root, or seed, or spark, that can exist and yet be hid and pro¬ 
duce no effects. 

(3.) Teach them that religion does not consist in raptures, or 
extacies, or high flights of feeling. There may be a great deal 
of these where there is religion. But it ought to be understood 
that they are all involuntary emotions, and may exist in full 
power where there is no religion. They may be the mere 
workings of the imagination, without any truly religious affec¬ 
tion at all. Persons may have them to such a degree as ac¬ 
tually to swoon away with ecstacy, even on the subject of re¬ 
ligion, without having any religion. I have known one person 
almost carried away with rapture, by a mere view of the natural 
attributes of God, his power and wisdom, as displayed in the 
starry heavens, and yet the person had no religion. Religion 
is obedience.to God, the voluntary submission of the soul to the 
will of God. 

(4.) Neither does religion consist in goingto meeting or read¬ 
ing the Bible, or praying, or any other of what are commonly 
called religious duties. The very phrase, “ religious duties,” 
ought to be stricken out of the vocabulary of young converts. 
They should be‘ made to know that these acts are not religion. 
Many become very strict in performing certain things, which 
they call religious duties, and suppose that is being religious; 


382 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


while they are careless about the ordinary duties of life, which 
in fact constitute A LIFE OF PIETY. Prayer may be an 
expression and an act of piety, or it may not be. Going to 
church or to a prayer meeting,, may be considered either as a 
means, an act, or an expression of piou& sentiment; but the per¬ 
formance of these, does not constitute a man a . Christian, and 
there may be great strictness and zeal in these, without a par¬ 
ticle of religion. If young converts are not taught to discrimi¬ 
nate, they may be led to think there is something peculiar in 
what are called religious duties, and to imagine they have a 
great deal of religion because they abound in certain actions 
that are commonly called religious duties, although they may 
at the same time be very deficient in honesty or faithfulness or 
punctuality, or temperance, or any other of what they choose to 
call their common duties. They may be very punctilious in 
some things, may tithe mint, annis and cummin, and yet neglect 
the weightier matters of the law, justice and the love of God. 

(5.) Religion does not consist in desires to do good actions. 
Desires that do not result in choice and action are not virtuous. 
Nor are such desires necessarily vicious. They may arise in¬ 
voluntarily in the mind, in view of certain objects, but while 
they produce no voluntary act, they are no more virtuous or 
vicious than the beating of the pulse, except in cases where we 
have indirectly willed them into existence, by voluntarily put¬ 
ting ourselves under circumstances to excite them. The wick¬ 
edest man on earth may have strong desires after holiness. 
Did you ever think of that? He may see clearly that holiness 
is the only and indispensable means of happiness. And the 
moment he apprehends holiness as a means of happiness, he 
naturally desires i*. It is to be feared, that multitudes are de¬ 
ceiving themselves with the supposition, that a desire for holi¬ 
ness, as a means of happiness, is religion. Many doubtless, give 
themselves great credit for desires that never result in choosing 
right. They feel desires to do their duty, but do not choose-to 
do it, because upon the whole they have still stronger desires 
not to do it. In such desires, there is no virtue. An action or 
desire to be virtuous in the sight of God, must be an act of the 
will. People often talk most absurdly on this subject, as though 
their desires had any thing good, while, they remain mere de¬ 
sires. “ I think I desire to do so and so.” But do you do it. 
“O no, but I often feel a desire to do it.” This is piafctical 
Atheism. 

Whatever desires a person may have, if they are not carried 
out into actual choice and action, they are not virtuous. And 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


383 


ho degree of desire is itself virtuous. If this idea could be 
made prominent, and fully riveted in the minds of men, it 
would probably annihilate the hopes of half the church, who 
are living on their good desires, while doing nothing for God. 

(6.) They should be made to understand that nothing which 
is selfish, is religion. Whatever desires they may have, and 
whatever choices and actions they may put forth, if after all the 
reason of them is selfish, there is no religion in them. A man 
may just as well commit sin in praying, or reading the Bible, 
or going to meeting, as in any thing else, if his motive is selfish. 
Suppose a man prays simply with a view to promote*his own 
happiness. Is that religion ? What is it, but attempting to make 
God his almighty servant ? It is nothing else but to attempt a 
great speculation, and put the universe, God a*ndall, under con¬ 
tribution to make him happy. It is the sublimp degree of wick¬ 
edness. It is so far from being.piety, that it is in fact superlative 
wickedness 

(7.) Nothing is acceptable to God, as religion, unless it be 
performed heartily, to please God, No outward action has any 
thing good, or any thing that God approves, unless it is per¬ 
formed from right motives,.and from the heart. 

(i) Young converts sho.uld be taught fully and positively 
that all religion consists in obeying God from the heart. All 
religion consists in voluntary action. All that is holy, all that 
is lovely in the sight of God, all that is properly called religion, 
consists in voluntary action, in voluntarily obeying the will of 
God fiom the heart. 

.2. Young converts should be taught that the duty of self- 
denial is one of the leading features of the gospel. They should 
understand that they are not pious at all, any farther than 
they are willing to take up the cross daily, and deny themselves, 
for Christ. There is but very little self-denial in the chu/ch, and 
the reason is, that the duty is so much lost sight of, in giving 
instruction to young converts. How seldom are they told that 
self-denial is the leading feature of Christianity. In pleading 
for benevolent objects, how often will you find, that ministers and 
agents do not even ask Christians to deny themselv.es for the 
sake of promoting the object. They only ask them to give what 
they can spare as well as not, or in other words, to offer unto 
the Lord that which costs them nothing. What an abomina¬ 
tion ! They only ask for the surplus, for what they do not want, 
for what they can give just as well as not. There is no religion 
in this kind of giving. A man may give to a benevolent object; 
a hundred thousand dollars, and there would be no religion in 


384 INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 

it, if he could give it as well as not, and there was no self- 
denial in it. Jesus Christ exercised self-denial to save sinners. 
So has God the Father exercised self-denial in giving his Son 
to die for us, and in 'sparing us, and in bearing with our per¬ 
verseness. The Holy Ghost exercises self-denial, in conde¬ 
scending to strive with such unholy beings to bring them to 
God. The angels exercise self-denial, in watching over this 
world. The apostles planted the Christian religion among the 
nations by the exercise of self-denial. And are we to think of 
being religious without any self-denial ? Are we to call our¬ 
selves Christians, the followers of Christ, the temples of the 
Holy Ghost, and to claim fellowship with the apostles, when 
we have never deprived ourselves of any thing that would pro¬ 
mote our personal enjoyment for the sake of promoting Christ’s 
kingdom? Young converts should be made to see that unless 
they are willing to lay themselves out for God and ready to 
sacrifice life and every thing else for Christ, they have not the 
spirit of Christ, and are none of his. 

3. They must be taught what sanctification is. “What!” 
you will say, “ do not all who are Christians know what 
sanctification is?” No, many do not. Multitudes would 
be as much at a loss to tell intelligibly what sanctification is, 
as they would be to tell what religion is. If the question were 
asked of every professor of religion in this city, What is sanc¬ 
tification? I doubt if one in ten would give a right answer. 
They would blunder just as they do when they undertake to 
tell what religion is, and speak of it as something dormant in 
the soul, something that is put in, and \ies there, something 
that may be practised or not, and still be in them. So they 
speak of sanctification as if it were a soft of washing off of some 
defilement, or a purging out of some physical impurity. Or 
they will speak of it as if the faculties were steeped in sin, and 
sanctification is taking out the stains. This is the reason why 
some people will pray for sanctification, and practise sin, evi¬ 
dently supposing that sanctification is something- that precedes 
obedience. They should be taught that sanctification is not 
something that precedes obedience, some change in the nature 
or the constitution of the soul. But sanctification is obedience , 
and, as a progressive thing, consists in obeying God more and 
more perfectly. 

4. Young converts should be taught so as to understand 
what perseverance is. It is astonishing how people talk about 
perseverance. As if the doctrine of perseverance was “ Once 
in grace, always in grace,” or “ Once converted, sure to go to 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 385 

heaven.” This is not the idea of perseverance. The true idea 
is, that if a man is truly converted, he will CONTINUE to 
obey God. And as a consequence., he will surely go to heaven. 
But if a person gets the idea, that because he is converted, 
therefore he will assuredly go to heaven, that man will almost 
assuredly go to, hell. 

5. Young converts should be taught to be religious in every 
thing. They should aim to be religious in every department 
of life and in all that they do. If they do not aimoX this, they 
should understand that they have no religion at all. If they do 
not intend and aim to keep all the commandments of God, what 
pretence can they make to piety? Whosoever shall keep the 
whole law and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. He 
is justly subject to the whole penalty. If he disobeys God ha¬ 
bitually in one particular, he does not in fact obey him in any 
particular. Obedience to God consists in the state of the heart. 
It is being willing to obey God ; willing that God should rule 
in all things. But if a mam habitually disobeys God, in any 
one particular, he is in a state of mind, that renders obedience 
in any thing else impossible. To say that in some things a 
man obeys God, out of respect to his authority, and that in 
some other things he refuses obedience, is absurd. The fact 
is, that obedience to God consists in an obedient state of heart, 
a preference of God’s authority and commandments to every 
thing else. If, therefore, an individual appears to obey in 
some things, and yet perseveringly and knowingly disobeys in 
any one thing, he is deceived. He offends in one point, and 
this proves that he is guilty of all; in other words, that he does 
not, from the heart , obey at all. A man may pray half of the 
time and have no religion; if he does not keep the command¬ 
ments of God, his very prayer will be hateful to God. “ He 
that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer 
shall be abomination.” Do you hear that? If a man refuses 
to obey God’s law, if he refuses to comply with any one duty, 
he cannot pray, he has no religion, his very devotions are 
hateful. 

6. Young converts, by proper instructions, are easily brought 
to be “ temperate in all things .” Yet this is a subject greatly 
neglected in regard to young converts, and almost lost sight of 
in the churches. There is a vast deal of intemperance in the 
churches. I do not mean intemperate drinking , in particular, 
but intemperance in eating, and in living generally. There is 
in fact but little conscience about it in the churches. And 
therefore the progress of reform in the matter is so slow. No- 


386 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


thing but an enlightened conscience can carry forward a per¬ 
manent reform. Ten years ago, most ministers used ardent 
spirit, and kept it in their houses to treat their friends and their 
ministering brethren with. And the great body of the members 
in the churches did the same. Now there are but few of either, 
who are not actual drunkards, that will do it. But still there 
are many that indulge without scruple in the use of wine. 
There are some ministers, and many professors, who will drink 
down wine that has as much spirit in it as brandy and water. 
This is intemperance. Chewing and smoking tobacco are 
mere acts of intemperance. If they use these mere stimulants 
when there is no necessity for it, what is that but intemperance? 
That is not being temperate in all things. Until Christians 
shall have a conscience on this subject, and be made to feel that 
they have no right to be intemperate in any thing, they will 
make but little progress in religion. It is well known, or ought 
to be, that TEA AND COFFEE have no nutriment in them. 
They are mere stimulants. They go through the system 
without being digested. The milk and sugar you put in them 
are nourishing. And so they would be just as much so, if you 
mixed them with rum, and made milk punch. But the tea and 
the coffee afford no nourishment. And yet I dare say, that a 
majority of the families in this city give more in a year for 
their tea and coffee, than they do to save the world from hell. 
Probably this is true respecting entire churches. Even agents 
of benevolent societies will dare to go through the churches so¬ 
liciting funds, for the support of missionary and other institu¬ 
tions, and yet use tea, coffee, and in some cases tobacco. 
Strange ! There is now in this city, an agent employed in so¬ 
liciting funds, who uses all three of these worse than useless 
stimulants. And he is, moreover, a minister of the gospel * 
No doubt many are giving five times as much for mere intem¬ 
perance, as they give for every effort to save the world. If the 
church could be made to know how much they spend for what are 
mere poisons and nothing else, they would be amazed. Sit down 
and talk with many persons, and they will strenuously main¬ 
tain that they cannot get along without these stimulants, these 
poisons, and they cannot give them up—no, not to redeem the 
world from eternal damnation. And very often they will abso¬ 
lutely show anger if argued with, just as soon as the argument 
begins to pinch their consciences. O, how long shall the 
church show her hypocritical face at the Monthly Concert, and 
pray God to save the world, while she is actually throwing 
away five times as much for sheer intemperance, as she will 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


387 


{ ;ive to save the world. Some of you may think these are 
ittle things, and that it is quite beneath the dignity of the pulpit 
to lecture against tea and coffee. But I tell you it is a great 
mistake of yours, if you think these are little things, when 
they make the church odious in the sight of God, by exposing 
her hypocrisy and lust. Here is an individual who pretends 
he has given himself up to serve Jesus Christ, and yet he refuses 
to deny himself any darling lust, and then he will go and pray, 
“ O Lord, save the world; O Lord, thy kingdom come.” I 
tell you it is hypocrisy. Shall such prayers be heard? Un¬ 
less men are willing to deny themselves, I would not give a 
groat for the prayers of as many such professors as would cover 
the whole United States. 

These things must be taught to young converts. It must 
come to this point in the church, that men shall not be called 
Christians, unless they will cut off the right hand, and pluck out 
the right eye, and deny themselves for Christ’s sake. A little 
thing ? See it poison the spirit of prayer ? See it debase and 
sensualize the soul! Is that a trifle beneath the dignity of the 
pulpit ? When these intemperate indulgences, of one kind and 
another, cost the church five times if not fifty times more than 
all they do for the salvation of the world. 

An estimate has recently been made, showing, that the United' 
States consume seven millions of dollars worth of coffee yearly; 
and who does not know, that a great part of this is consumed 
by the church. And yet, grave ministers and members of Chris¬ 
tian churches are not ashamed to be seen countenancing this 
enormous waste of money; while at the same time, the poor 
heathen are sending upon every wind of heaven, their agoniz¬ 
ing wail for help. Heaven calls from above, “ go preach the 
Gospel to every creature.” Hell groans from beneath, and ten 
thousand voices cry out from heaven, earth and hell, “ Do some¬ 
thing to save the world?' Do it now! O, now, or millions 
more are in hell through your neglect. And, O, tell it not in 
Gath, the church, the ministry , will not deny even their lusts, 
to save a world. Is this Christianity ? What business have 
you to use Christ’s money for such a purpose ? Are you a 
steward ? Who gave you this liberty ? Look to it, lest it 
should be found at last, that you have preferred self-gratification 
to obedience, and made a “ god of your belly.” 

The time to teach these things with effect, is when they are 
young converts. If they are not properly taught then, if they 
get a wrong habit, and begin with an easy, self-indulgent mode 
of living, it is rare that they are ever thoroughly reformed. I 


388 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


have conversed with old professors on these subjects, and have 
been astonished at their pertinacious obstinacy in indulging 
their lusts. And I am satisfied that the church never can rise 
out of this sloth until young converts are faithfully taught in the 
outset of their religious course to be temperate in all things. 

7. They should be taught to have just as much religion in all 
their business, as they have in prayer, or in going to meeting. 
They should be just as holy, just as watchful, aim just as singly 
at the glory of God, be just as sincere and solemn, in all their 
daily employments, as when they come to the throne of grace. 
If they are not, their Sabbath performances will be an abomi¬ 
nation. 

8. They should be taught that it is necessary for them to be 
just as holy as they think ministers ought to be. There has for a 
long time been an idea that ministers are bound to be holy and 
practice self-denial. And so they are. But it is strange they 
should suppose that ministers are bound to be any more holy 
than other people. They would be shocked to see a minister 
show levity, or running after the fashions, or getting out of 
temper, or living in a fine house, or riding in a coach. O, that 
is dreadful. It does not look well in a minister. Indeed! For 
a minister’s wife to wear such a fine bonnet, or such a silk 
shawl. O, no. But they think nothing of all this in a layman, 
or a layman’s wife. That is no offence at all. I am not saying 
that these things do look well in a minister; I know they do not. 
But they look in God’s eyes, just as well in a minister as they 
do in a layman. You have no more right to indulge in vanity 
and folly and pride than a minister. Can you go to heaven 
without being sanctified ? Can you be holy without living for 
God, and doing all that you do to his glory ? I have heard 
professedly good men speak against ministers’ having large sa¬ 
laries, and living in an expensive style, when they themselves 
were actually spending a great deal more money for the support 
of their families, than any ministers. What would be thought 
of a minister, living in the style in which many professors of 
religion, and elders of churches are living in this city. Why 
every body would say that they were hypocrites. But, it is just 
as much an evidence of hypocrisy in a layman to spend God’s 
money to gratify his lusts, or to please the world, or his family, 
as it is for a minister to do the same. It is distressing to hear 
some of our foremost laymen talk of its being dishonorable to 
religion, to give ministers a large salary, and let them live in an 
expensive style, when it is a fact that their own expenses, are, 
fqr the number of their families and the company they have, far 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 389 

above thai of almost any minister. All this arises out of funda¬ 
mentally wrong notions imbibed while they were young con¬ 
verts. Young converts have been taught to expect that minis¬ 
ters will have all the religion, especially all the self-denial, and 
so long as this continues there can be no hope that the church 
will ever do much for the glory of God, or for the conversion of 
the world. There is nothing of all this in the Bible. Where 
has God said, “ You, ministers, love God with all your heart 
and soul and mind and strength,” or “ You ministers do all that 
you do to the glory of God ?” This is said to all alike, and he 
who attempts to excuse himself from any duty or self-denial, 
from any watchfulness or sobriety, by putting it off upon minis¬ 
ters, or who ventures to adopt a lower scale of holy living for 
himself than he thinks is proper for a minister, is in great danger 
of proving himself a hypocrite, and paying the forfeit of his fool¬ 
ishness in hell. 

Much depends on the instructions given to young converts. 
If they once get into the habit of supposing that they may in¬ 
dulge in things which they would condemn in a minister, it is 
ten to one if they ever get out of it. 

8. They should aim at being perfect. Every young convert 
should be taught, that if it is not his purpose to live without sin, 
he has not yet began to be religious. What is religion, but a 
supreme purpose of heart or disposition to obey God? If there 
is not this, there is no religion at all. It is one thing to profess 
to be perfect , and another thing to profess and feel that you 
ought to be perfect. It is one thing to say, that men ought to be 
perfect, and can be if they are so disposed, and another thing to 
say that they are perfect. If any are prepared to say that they 
are perfect, all I have to say is, Let them prove it. If they are 
so, I hope they will show it by their actions, otherwise we can 
never believe they are perfect. 

But it is the duty of all to aim at being perfect. It should 
be their constant purpose, to live wholly to God, and obey all 
his commandments. They should live so, that if they should 
sin it would be an inconsistency, an exception, an individual 
case, in which they act contrary to the fixed and general pur¬ 
pose and tenor of their lives. They ought not to sin at all, they 
are bound to be as holy as God is, and young converts should 
be taught to set out in the right course, or they will never be 
right. 

9. They should be taught to exhibit their light. 

If the young convert does not exhibit his light, and hold it 
up to the world, it will go out. If he does not bestir himself, 

33* 


■390 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


and go forth and try to enlighten those around him, his light 
will go out, and his own soul will soon be in darkness. Some¬ 
times 3 'oung converts seem disposed to he still and not do any 
thing in public till they get a great deal of light, or a great 
deal of religion. But this is not the way. Let the convert 
use what he has, let him hold up his little twinkling rush-light, 
boldly and honestly, and then God will pour in the oil and 
make him like a blazing torch. But God will not take the trouble 
to* keep a light burning that is hid. Why should he? Where 
is' the use? 

This is the reason why so many people enjoy so little in re 
Jigion. They do not exert themselves to honor God. They 
kdep what little they do enjoy, so entirely to themselves, that 
there is no good reason why God should bestow blessings and 
benefits on them. 

10 . They should be taught how to win souls to Christ. 
Young converts should be taught particularly what to do for 
this, and how to do it, and then taught to live for this end as 
the great leading object of life. How strange has been the 
course sometimes pursued. These persons have been convert¬ 
ed, and there they are. They get into the church and then they 
are left to go along in their business just as they did before; 
they do nothing and are taught to do nothing for Christ, and 
the only change is that they go more regularly to church on 
the Sabbath, and let the minister feed them as it is called. But 
suppose he does feed them, they do not grow strong, for they 
cann'ot digest it, because they take no exercise. They become 
spiritual dyspeptics. Now the great object for which Chris¬ 
tians are converted and left in this world, is to pull sinners out 
of the fire. If they do not effect this, they had better be dead. 
And young converts should be taught this as soon as they are 
born into the kingdom. The first thing they do should be to 
go to work for this end, to save sinners. 

11. I am to show how young converts should be treated by 
the church. 

1 1 . Old professors ought to he able to give young converts a 
great deal of instruction , and they ought to give it. The truth 
is, however, that the great body of professors in the churches 
do not know how to give good instruction to young converts, 
and if they attempt to give them instruction, give only that 
hich is false. The church ought to be able to teach her chil- 
• and when she receives them, she ought to be as busy in 
’ them to act, as mothers are in teaching their little chil- 
things as they will need to know and do hereafter. 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


391 


But this is far enough from being the case generally. And we 
can never expect to see young converts habitually taking right 
hold of duty, and going straight forward without declension and 
backsliding, until young converts shall be intelligently trained 
by the church. 

2. Young converts should not be kept back behind the res 
of the church. How often is it found that the old professor 
will keep the young converts back behind the rest of the church, 
and prevent them from taking any active part in religion, for 
fear they should become spiritually proud. Young converts in 
such churches, are rarely or never called on to take a part 
in meetings, or set to any active duty, or the like, for fear they 
should become lifted up with spiritual pride. Thus the church 
become the modest keepers of their humility, and teach them to 
file in behind the old, stiff, dry, cold members and elders, for 
fear that if they are allowed to do any thing for Christ, it will 
make them proud. Whereas, the very way to make young 
converts humble and keep them so, is to put them to their work 
and keep them there. That is the way to keep God with them, 
and as long as God is with them, He will take care of their 
humility. Keep them constantly engaged in religion, and then 
the Spirit of God will dwell with them, and then they will be 
kept humble by the most effectual process. But if young con¬ 
verts are left to fall in behind the old professors, where they 
never can do any thing, they will never know w T hat spirit they 
are of, and this is the very way to run them into danger of the 
worst species of spiritual pride. 

3. They should be watched over, by the church, and warned 
of their dangers, just as a tender mother watches over her young 
children. Young converts do not know at all the dangers by 
which they are surrounded. The devices of the devil, the 
temptations of the world, the power of their own passions and 
habits, and the thousand forms of danger, they do not know; 
and if not properly watched and warned, they will run right 
into danger. See that mother watching her little child. Does 
she let it put its little hand in the candle, or allow it to creep 
where it will fall, because its own blindness and ignorance 
does not prevent it from desiring to do so ? The church should 
watch over and care for her young children, just as mothers 
watch their little children in this great city, for fear the carts 
may run over them, or they may stray away and be lost; or as 
they watch them while growing up, for fear they may be 
drawn into the whirlpools of iniquity. The church should 
watch over all the interests of her young members, know 


392 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


where they are, and what are their habits, temptations, dangers, 
privileges, slate of religion in their hearts, spirit of prayer. 
Look at that anxious mother, when she sees paleness gather 
round the little brow of her child. “ What is the matter with 
you, my child ? Have you eaten something improper ? Have 
you taken cold? What ails you ?” O, how different it is with 
the children of the church, the lambs that the Savior has com¬ 
mitted to the care of his churches. Alas! Instead of restrain¬ 
ing her children, and taking care ol them, the church lets them 
go any where, and look out for themselves. What should we 
say of a mother who should knowingly let her little child tot¬ 
ter along to the edge of a precipice ? Should we not say she 
was horribly guilty for doing so, and that if the child should 
fall and be killed, its blood would rest on the mother’s head? 
What then is the guilt of the church, in knowingly neglecting 
her young converts ? I have known churches, where young 
converts were first totally neglected, and regarded with suspi¬ 
cion and jealousy; nobody went near them to strengthen or 
encourage or counsel them ; nothing was done to lead them to 
usefulness, to teach them what to do, or how to do it, or open to 
them a field of labor. And then—what then? Why, when 
they find that young converts cannot stand every thing, and find 
them growing cold and backward under their own treatment, 
they just turn round and abuse them, because they did not hold 
out. This is all wrong. 

4. Be tender in reproving them. When Christians find it 
necessary to reprove young converts, they should be exceedingly 
careful of their manner in doing it. Young converts should 
be faithfully watched over by the elder members of the church, 
and when they begin to lose ground, or to turn aside, they 
should be promptly admonished, and if necessary, reproved. 
But to do it in a wrong manner is worse than not to do it. It 
is sometimes done in a manner that is abrupt, harsh, coarse, 
and apparently censorious, more like scolding than like brotherly 
admonition. Such a manner, instead of inspiring confidence, 
or leading to reformation, is just calculated to harden the heart 
of the young convert, and confirm him in his wrong courses, 
while at the same time it closes his mind against the' influence 
of such censorious guardians. The heart of a young convert 
is tender, and easily grieved, and sometimes a single unkind 
look will set them into such a state of mind as will fasten their 
errors upon them and make them grow worse and w’orse. 

You who are parents know how important it is when you 
reprove your children, that they should see that you do it from 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


393 


the best of motives, for their benefit, because you wish them to 
be good, and not because you are angry. Otherwise they will 
soon come to regard you as a tyrant, rather than a friend. Just 
so with young converts. Kindness and tenderness, even in re¬ 
proof, will win their confidence, and attach them to you, and 
give an influence to your brotherly instructions and counsels, 
so that you can mould them into finished Christians. Instead 
of this, if you are severe and critical in your manner, that is 
the way to make them think you wish to lord it over them. 
Many persons, under pretence of being faithful , as they call it, 
often hurt young converts in such a severe and overbearing 
manner, as to drive them away, or perhaps crush them into 
despondency and apathy. Young converts have but little ex¬ 
perience, and are easily thrown down. They are just like a 
little child when it first begins to walk. You see it tottering 
along, and there it stumbles over a straw. You see the mother 
take up every thing from the floor, when her little one is going 
to try to walk. Just so with, young converts. The church 
ought to take up every stumbling block, and treat them in such 
a way as to make them see that if they are reproved, Christ is 
in it, and then they will receive it as it is meant, and it will do 
them good. 

5. Kindly point ou t things that are faulty in the young con¬ 
vert wdiich he does not see. He is but a child, and knows but 
little about religion, and will of course have a great many 
things that he needs to learn, and a great many that he ought 
to mend. Whatever there is that is wrong in spirit, or unlovely 
in his deportment, or uncultivated in manner, that will impede 
his usefulness or impair his influence as a Christian, ought to 
be kindly pointed out and corrected. To do this in the right 
way, however, requires great wisdom. Christians ought to 
make it a subject of much prayer and reflection, that they may 
do it right, so as not to do more hurt than good. If you re¬ 
buke him merely for the things that he did not see, or did not 
know to be improper, it will grieve and disgust him. Such in¬ 
struction should be carefully timed, often it is well to take the 
opportunity after you have been praying together, or after a 
kind conversation of religious subjects, calculated to make him 
feel that you love him, and seek his good, and earnestly desire 
to promote his sanctification, his usefulness, and his happiness. 
Then a mere hint will often do the work. Just suggest that 
“Such a thing in your prayer” or “your cbnduct so and so, 
did not strike me pleasantly. Had you not better think of it, 
and perhaps you will judge better to avoid the same thing 


394 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS, 


again.” Do it right, and you will help and do him good. Do 
it wrong and you will do ten times more hurt than good. Often 
young converts will err, through ignorance, their judgment is 
unripe, and they need time to think and make up an enlighten¬ 
ed judgment, on some point that at first appears to them doubt¬ 
ful. In such cases the church should treat them with great 
kindness and forbearance. Should kindly instruct them and 
not denounce them at once for not seeing, at first, what perhaps 
they did not themselves understand, for years after they were 
converted. 

6. Do not speak of the faults of young converts, behind their 
backs. This is quite too common among old professors, and by 
and by they hear of it; and what an influence it must have to 
destroy the confidence of young converts in their elder brethren, 
to grieve their hearts and discourage them, and perhaps drive 
them away from the good influence of the church. 

III. I am to mention some of the evils of defective instruction 
to young converts. 

1. If not fully instructed, they never will be fully grounded 
in right principles. If they have right fundamental principles, 
this will lead them to adopt a right course of conduct in all 
particular cases. In forming a Christian character, a great 
deal depends on establishing those fundamental principles which 
are correct on all subjects. If you look at the Bible you will 
see there, that God teaches right principles which we can carry 
out in detail in right conduct. If the education of young con¬ 
verts is defective, either in kind or degree, you will see it in 
their character all their lives. “ This is the philosophical result, 
just what might be expected, and must be always so. It could 
be shown, if I had time, that almost all the practical errors that 
have prevailed in the church, are the natural results of certain 
false dogmas, which have been taught to young converts, and 
which they have been made to swallow as the truth of God, at 
a time when they were so ignorant as not to know any better. 

2. If the instruction given to young converts is not correct 
and full, they will not grow in grace, but their religion will 
dwindle away and decay. Their course instead of being like 
the path of the just, growing brighter and brighter to the per¬ 
fect day, will grow dimmer and dimmer, and decay and finally 
perhaps go out in darkness. Wherever you see young converts 
let their religion taper off till it comes to nothing, you may 
understand that it is the proper result of defective instruction. 
The philosophical result of teaching young converts the truth, 
and the whole truth, is that they grow stronger and stronger. 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 395 

Truth is the food for the mind—it is what gives the mind 
strength. And where religious character grows feeble, rely 
upon it, in nine cases out of ten it is owing to their being neg¬ 
lected, or falsely instructed, when they were young converts. 

3. They will be left justly in doubt whether they are Chris¬ 
tians. If their early instruction is false, or defective, there wilL 
be so much inconsistency in their lives, and so little real evi 
dence of real piety, that they themselves will finally doubt 
whether they have any. Probably they will live and die in 
doubt. You cannot make a little evidence go a great ways. 
If they do not see clearly they will not live consistently, if they 
do not live consistently they can have but little evidence, and if 
they have not evidence they must doubt, or live in presumption. 

4. If young converts are rightly instructed and trained, it 
will generally be seen that they will take the right side on all 
great subjects that come before the church. Subjects are contin¬ 
ually coming up before the churches, on which they have to take 
ground, and on many of them there is often no little difficulty to 
make all the church take right ground. Take the subject of 
Tracts, or Missions, or Sabbath schools, or Temperance, for 
instance, and what cavils, and objections, and resistance, and 
opposition, have been encountered from members of the church 
in different places. Go through the churches, and where you 
find young converts have been well taught, you never find 
them making difficulty, or raising objections, or putting forth 
cavils. I do not hesitate to charge it upon pastors and older 
members of churches, that there are so many who have to be 
dragged up to the right ground on all such subjects. If they 
had grounded them well in the principles of the gospel at the 
outset, when they were first converted, they would have seen 
the application of their principles to all these things. It is 
curious to see, and I have had great opportunity to see, how 
ready young converts are to take right ground, on any subject 
that may be proposed. See what they are willing to do for the 
education of ministers, for missions, for moral reform, for the 
slaves. If the great body of young converts from the late 
revivals had been well grounded in gospel principles, you 
would have found in them, throughout the church, but one 
heart and one soul in regard to every question of duty that 
occurs. Let their early education be right, and you have got a 
body of Christians that you can depend on. If it had been 
general in the church, O, how much more strength there would 
have been in all her great movements for the salvation of the 
world. 


396 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


5. If young converts are not well instructed they will inevi¬ 
tably backslide. If their instruction is defective, they will pro¬ 
bably live in such a way as to disgrace religion. The truth, 
kept steadily before the mind of a young convert, in proper pro¬ 
portions, has a natural tendency to make him grow up into the 
fullness of the stature of a perfect man in Christ Jesus. If 
any one point is made too prominent in the instruction given, 
there will probably he just that disproportion in his character. 
If he is fully instructed on some points and not in others, you 
will find a corresponding defect in his life and character. 

If the instruction of young converts is greatly defective, they 
will press on in religion no further than they are strongly pro¬ 
pelled by the emotions of their first conversion. As soon as that 
is spent they will come to a stand, and then they will decline 
and backslide. And ever after you will find that they will go 
forward only when aroused by some powerful excitement. These 
are your periodical Christians, that are so apt to wake up in a 
time of revival, and bluster about as if they had the zeal of an 
angel, a few days, and then die away as dead and cold as a 
northern winter. O how desirable, how infinitely important it 
is, that young converts should be so taught, that their religion 
will not depend oh impulses and excitements, but that they will 
go steadily onward in the Christian course, advancing from 
strength to strength, giving forth a clear and safe and steady 
light all around. 

REMARKS. 

I. The church is verily guilty for her past neglect, in regard 
to the instruction of young converts. 

Instead of bringing up their young converts to be working 
Christians, the churches have generally acted as if they did not 
know how to employ young converts, or what use to make of 
them. They have acted like a mother, who has a great family 
of daughters, and knows nothing how to set them to work, and 
so suffers them to grow up idle and untaught, useless and des¬ 
pised, and to be the easy prey of every designing villain. 

If the church had only done her duty in training up young 
converts to work, and labour for Christ, the world would have 
been converted long ago. But instead of this, how many 
churches even oppose young converts, when they attempt to set 
themselves at work for Christ. Multitudes of old professors 
look with suspicion upon every movement of young converts, 
and talk against them, and say,-“ They are too forward, they 
ought not to put themselves forward, but wait for those who are 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 397 

older.” There is waiting again. Instead of bidding young 
converts “ God speed,” and cheering them on when they take 
hold with warm hearts and strong hands, very often they hinder 
them and perhaps put them down. How often have young con¬ 
verts been stopped from going forward, and turned in behind a 
formal, lazy, inefficient church, till their spirit is crushed, and 
their zeal extinguished, and after a few ineffectual struggles to 
throw off the cords, they conclude to sit down with the rest and 
WAIT. In many places, young converts cannot even attempt 
to hold a prayer-meeting by themselves, but what the pastor, or 
some of the deacons, rebukes them for being so forward, and 
charges them with spiritual pride. “ Oh, ho! you are young 
converts , are you? and so you want to get together and call all 
the neighbors together to look at you, because you are young 
converts ” You had better turn preachers at once. A cele¬ 
brated Doctor of Divinity in New England boasted at a public 
table of his success in keeping all his converts still. He had 
great difficulty, he said, for they were in a terrible fever to do 
something, to talk, or pray, or get up meetings, but by the 
greatest vigilance he had kept it all down, and now his church 
was just as quiet as it was before the revival. Wonderful 
achievement for a minister of Jesus Christ! Was that what 
the blessed Savior meant when he told Peter, “ Feed my 
lambs ?” 

2. Young converts should be trained to labour , just as care¬ 
fully as young recruits in an army are trained for war. 

Suppose a captain in the army should get his company en¬ 
listed, and then take no more pains to teach and train and dis¬ 
cipline them, than are taken by many pastors to train and lead 
forward their young converts. Why, the enemy would laugh 
at such an army. Call them soldiers ! Why, as to any effec¬ 
tive service, they are in a mere state of babyhood, they know 
nothing what to do or how to do it, and if you bring them up to 
the CHARGE, where are they ? Such an army would resemble 
the church that does not train her young converts. Instead ot 
being trained to stand shoulder to shoulder in the onset, they 
feel no practical confidence in their leaders, no confidence in 
their neighbors, no confidence in themselves, and they scatter 
at the first shock of battle. Look at the church now. Minis¬ 
ters are not agreed as to what shall be done, and many of them 
will turn and fight back against their brethren, quarrelling about 
New Measures, or the Act and Testimony, or something. And 
as to the members, they cannot feel confidence when they see 
their leaders so divided. And then if they attempt to Jo any 

34 


398 


INSTRUCTION 0? VOUNG CONVERTS, 


thing—Alas! alas ! what ignorance, what awkwardness, what 
discord, what weakness, what miserable work they make of it 
And so it must continue, until the church shall train up young 
converts to he intelligent,, single-hearted, self-denying, working 
Christians. Here is an enterprise now going on in this city, 
which I rejoice to see. I mean the Tract enterprise—a blessed 
work. And the plan is to train up a body of-devoted Christians 
to do—what ?—why to do what all the church ought to have 
been trained to do long ago, to know how to pray, and how to 
converse with people about their soul’s salvation, and how to at¬ 
tend anxious meetings, and howto deal with inquirers, and how 
to SAVE SOULS. 

3. The church has entirely mistaken the manner in which 
she is to be sanctified. 

The experiment has been carried on long enough, of trying 
to sanctify the church, without finding any thing for them to do. 
But holiness consists in obeying God. And sanctification, as a 
process, means obeying him more and more perfectly. And the 
way to promote it in the church, is to give every one something 
to do. Look at these great churches, where they have 500 or 
700 members, and get a minister to feed them from Sabbath to 
Sabbath, while there are so many of them together that the 
greater part have nothing at all to do, are never trained to make 
any direct efforts for the salvation of souls. And in that way 
they are expecting to be sanctified and prepared for heaven. 
They never will be sanctified sv. That is not the way God has 
appointed. Jesus Christ has made his people co-workers with 
him in saving sinners, for this very reason, because sanctifica¬ 
tion consists in doing those things which are required to pro¬ 
mote this work. This is one reason why he has not employed 
angels in the work, or carried it on by direct revelation of truth 
to the minds of men. It is because it is necessary as a means 
of sanctification, that the church should sympathize with Christ 
in his feelings and his labours for the conversion of sinners. 
And in this way the entire church must move, before the world 
will be converted. When the day comes, that the whole ehurch 
shall realize that they are here on earth as a body of missiona¬ 
ries, and shall live and labor accordingly, then will the day of 
man’s redemption draw nigh. 

Christian ! if you cannot go abroad to labour why are you 
not a missionary in your own family? If you are too feeble 
even to leave your room, be a missionary there in your bed¬ 
chamber. How many unconverted servants have you in your 
house? Call in your unconverted servants, and your uncon- 


INSTRUCTION OF YOUNG CONVERTS. 


399 


verted children, and be a missionary 10 them. Think of your 
physician, perhaps, who is laying himself out to save your body, 
while he is losing his own soul, and you receive his kindness 
and never make him the greatest return in your power. 

It is necessary that the church should take hold of her young 
converts at the outset, and set them fo work, and set them to 
work right. The hope of the church is in the young converts. 

4. We see what a responsibility rests on ministers, and elders, 
and all who have opportunity to assist in training young con¬ 
verts. How distressing is the picture which often forces itself 
upon the mind, where multitudes are converted, and yet so little 
pains taken with the young converts, that in a single year you 
cannot tell the young converts from the rest of the church. And 
then to see the old church members turn round and complain of 
these young converts, and perhaps slandering them, when in 
truth these old professors themselves are most to blame. O, it 
is too bad. This reaction that people talk so much about after 
a revival, as if reaction was the necessary effect of a revival, it 
would never come, young converts never would backslide as 
they do, if the church were prompt and faithful in attending to 
their instruction. If they are truly converted, they can be made 
thorough and energetic Christians. And if they are not such, 
Jesus Christ will require it at the hands of the church. 



LECTURE XXI. 


BACKSLIDERS. 

Text.—"T he backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways.”—Pro 
verbs xiv. 14. 

In remarking on this text I shall inquire, 

I. Who are backsliders ? 

II. Mention some of the causes of backsliding. And 

III Some of the consequences of backsliding. 

I. Who are backsliders? 

1. The term backslide means to go back from a point. In 
its widest signification when applied to religion, it may mean 
the declension of any class of persons who profess religion,, 
whether they possess it or not. If they have professed religion, 
and have at any time conformed their lives to its rules so far as 
to appear to be religious, and if they then go back from even 
the appearance of religion, they are called backsliders, although 
their profession may have been a mere form. So it is equally 
customary to call them backsliders, whether they apostatize 
wholly from all religion, or change to another religion. In 
this sense it is often used under the Old Testament dispensa¬ 
tion. God’s people used to be spoken of as backsliders, when 
they went off to idolatry, as well as when they grew lax and 
unprincipled in the duties of religion. In the sense in which 
I use the term to-night, I mean by a backslider to denote a person 
who is truly converted and is a Christian, but has left his first love. 
His zeal has grown cold. The ardor of his feelings and the 
x depth of his piety are abated. Such a person is a "backslider 
in heart.” He may keep up all the forms of religion, attend to 
worship, public and private, and read his Bible, and go through 
all these exercises regularly, but the spirit of it is gone—al 
the fine edge of pious feelings is blunted. He is a backslider 
in heart. Probably this applies to some of you who hear me 
to-night. God knows whether it does or not. Your own con¬ 
sciences will tell you, if you will let them speak. Have you 
less ardor of feeling, less fixedness of purpose, less faithfulness 
in duty? If you have, then I mean you. God means you. 
He calls you backslider. That is your name—you, elder in 
the church; or you minister, if there be any such here; you 


BACKSLIDERS. 


401 


woman—no matter what is your standing in the church, if that 
is the description of your character, then you are a backslider. 
And so you stand entered on the hook of God. 

2. The backslider is any one who was once converted, but 
who does not enjoy secret prayer , and hold daily communion 
with God. A man may keep up the form of prayer,.he may 
be on his knees a great deal, and yet have no communion with 
God—not feel that God is present with him. He may pray 
ever so much, in form, and yet have no spirit of prayer. If in 
your secret prayer you do not actually draw near to God, you 
are either a backslider in heart or a hypocrite. No matter to 
what church you belong, or what office you hold, or what char¬ 
acter you may bear in the sight of men; God regards you as 
a backslider, if you do not enjoy the spirit of prayer. 

3. If you do not enjoy the word of God , you are a backslider 
in heart. If you do not habitually form your practical views 
from it, you are a backslider. If you do not delight in the 
Bible more than in any other book, if you find you can relish 
reading any commentary as well as you do the naked text 
itself, you have begun to backslide. I do not hesitate to say, 
that the man who finds he can relish the best commentary that 
ever was written, as well as he does the simple word of God, 
has begun to backslide. If he has gone still farther, and thinks 
he has read the Bible about enough, and that now he will take 
up other things and study, he is far gone. TAKE CARE, 
professor! If you find that when you read a chapter it is dark 
and uninteresting, your name before God is Backslider. 

4. If you are worldly minded , you are a backslider. If you 
find the things of the world are uppermost in your mind, and 
occupy your first thoughts in the morning, or press sponta¬ 
neously upon your attention as soon as you are alone, if your 
associations and thoughts and feelings are earthly, you are a 
backslider in heart. 

5. If you do not feel your heart drawn out in painful anxiety 
and prayer in view of the state of the church , it is because you 
are a backslider. If you can look at the state of the churches 
in this city without pain, and grief of heart, and deep anxiety, 
you must be a backslider in heart. 

6. If you are insensible how low the state of religion is, you 
are a backslider. Many people, when they see congregations 
as large as usual, and when there are no dissensions among 
them, will say, “ There is a very pleasant state of things among 
that people; it is a very prosperous parish; how quiet and 
peaceful every thing is there; it is delightful.” And all this, 

34* 


402 


BACKSLIDERS. 


notwithstanding there may he no conversions there, no souls 
saved. A person who can call that a pleasant and prosperous 
state for a congregation, must be either a backslider or a hypo¬ 
crite. If he was not, he would never rest in such a state of 
things, he would never be satisfied until he knew that sinners 
were turning from their sins. The man that can rest satisfied 
with any thing short of this, must have, to say the least, but a 
very superficial piety. 

7. When the wickedness of sinners does not distress and 
grieve you, it is a sign of backsliding. If any one can hear sin¬ 
ners profane the name of God, and see them break the Sabbath, 

r do other abominations, and not groan and sigh and pray and 
grieve for them, he must be a backslider. How little you feel 
like the Psalmist, when he says in regard to the wicked, “ Ri¬ 
vers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy 
law.” “ Horror hath taken hold upon me, because of the wicked, 
that forsake thy law.” “ I beheld the transgressors and was 
grieved, because they kept not thy word.” So does every Chris¬ 
tian, who is not a backslider, grieve at the transgressions of the 
wicked. 

8. A person may be known as a backslider, when his secret 
prayers are short , and far between. Persons who enjoy prayer, 
pray very frequently. If you pray but seldom, or if you do not 
pray as often as you eat, or do not spend as much time in com¬ 
munion with God as you do in gratifying your appetite, it is a 
sign you have backslidden. You did not do so when you en¬ 
joyed your first love. Then you had rather pray than eat. Your 
feeling was, that if you must cut short one, you would say, Let 
the body fast, but my soul must be fed. It is to be feared that 
very many in the church do not pray as much as they eat. 
They are not so frequent, nor so regular, and do not spend as 
much time. Let them take care. Depend upon it, if they do 
so, their table will prove a snare And a trap to them. He is a 
glutton, or worse, who spends more time in eating, than he spends 
with God in prayer. 

9. When you can perform secret prayer in a slight manner. 
If a person can go to his closet end pray slightly, without any 
honest fervency of soul before God, or any wrestling with God 
for a blessing, it is proof that he is a backslider. 

10. When you suffer trifling excuses to prevent your pray¬ 
ing, either in secret, or in public. Point me to a man who ab¬ 
sents himself from his closet for trifling reasons, or who is kept 
from the house of God by frivolous excuses, that man’s name is 
backslider. If not, he would make eating and every thing else 


BACKSLIDERS. 


403 


give way to his regular hours of devotion; and the reason 
would be, that he enjoyed more in prayer and the word of God, 
than in his daily food. Job says, “ I have esteemed the words 
of his mouth more than my necessary food.” If you find that a 
slight indisposition or inconvenience will keep you from the 
house of God, and lead you to set aside private duties, vou area 
backslider. 

Perh&ps I ought here to ask each one of you who hear me to- 
night, whether this is your case. Have I mentioned facts that 
apply to you, and that you know refer to you ? Beloved, do any 
of you do these things ? If you do, let the truth reach your 
hearts. Do not apply it to your neighbor, do not give it 
away, but take it home to yourself. You need it, it will do you 
good, if you will let it. If these things belong to you, just be 
honest with yourself, and write your name “ Backslider,” and 
act accordingly. 

II. I am to mention some of the principal causes of hack 
sliding. 

1. Ill will towards any person. If ill will is harbored towards 
any being that God has made, you cannot continue to enjoy the 
presence of God. No matter how wicked that being may he, or 
how worthless, if you hate that being, you are the same as a 
murderer in the sight of God, and the spirit of God cannot dwell 
with you. You must be a backslider. Sometimes persons who 
are perhaps really injured, will let it fester in their minds, and 
rankle there, till it eats out all their piety. You cannot pray, 
when you have any ill will towards any. I defy you to pray 
with such a spirit in you. God will not hear your prayer. If 
you think you pray, you are deceived. You cannot have the 
spirit of prayer, nor hold communion with God, in such a state. 
“ When ye stand praying, FORGIVE, if ye have aught against 
any, that your Father, also, which is in heaven may forgive you 
your trespasses.” 

2. Another fruitful source of backsliding is having too much 
worldly business. If you have so much worldly business as to 
absorb your thoughts, and take up too much of your time, you 
will backslide. You ought not to have so much business that 
you cannot pray. And you need not. God does not require it. 
He does not wish his clerks to have so much work to do that 
they cannot get time to confer with him, to tell him their situa¬ 
tion and progress, and ask his direction. If you accumulate so 
much business that you cannot attend on God, it is evident that 
you have not right views of business. If you really considered it as 
God’s business, you would not think that this was the best way 


404 


BACKSLIDERS. 


to please and honor God, to plunge into such a mass of worldly 
business that you cannot pray nor read your Bible. Business 
is a duty. I have always inculcated this, as you know, that it 
is a duty which God requires, to be busy, always usefully em¬ 
ployed in some way. But to get into business that will encroach 
upon secret prayer and eat out religion, is all wrong. God 
never requires it. Men are God’s stewards, and HE never em¬ 
ploys them so that they cannot have time to commune with him. 
And if they run themselves into such a press of worldly busi¬ 
ness and cares, it is a sure sign that they have set up to do busi¬ 
ness for themselves, and not for God, and are now hastening jto 
be rich. Otherwise they would never think of doing so, for 
they would have no motive. Love to God never shows itself 
in that way. And he who sets up business on his own account 
will surely backslide. 

3. Another frequent cause of backsliding is being associated 
in business with an unconverted partner. Whoever forms such 
a connection after he is converted, will infallibly taper off his re¬ 
ligion, his piety will decay, and he will backslide.—The reason 
is obvious. The unconverted man never pursues his business 
on Christian principles. He has not the beginning of such a 
principle. And therefore the business of the concern can never 
be conducted on such principles as God requires. And if you 
consent to have it conducted on any other principles, you are 
ruined. You will backslide, and your religion is ruined. God 
requires that business to be carried on for his glory, and if you 
do not have your business conducted in this way, you will 
backslide. I could mention a multitude of facts here, some of 
which you are acquainted with, where Christians have formed 
business connections with the unconverted and have been 
greatly injured, and often injured not only in their piety but 
their reputation also. I do not mean to say, that unconverted 
men are not honest, in the sight of men, and so far as men are 
concerned. But they are not honest in the sight of God, unless 
they do business for him. God requires them to carry on their 
business for his glory, and to be as faithful in it as if God was 
standing by, overlooking and directing it. Now where you 
find a man doing this, you have found an excellent Christian. 
But if you associate yourself with one who will do nothing oi 
the kind, you do in fact go with him and adopt his principles. 
And then you will backslide. I do not believe an instance to the 
contrary can be found, of a Christian who has taken a worldly 
paitner, and has continued to enjoy religion. You must either 
offend your partner or offend God. You offend God at first by 


BACKSLIDERS. 


405 


placing yourself in these circumstances. And no douht you 
will continue to do so. 

4. The influence of worldly companions , is a common cause 
of backsliding. When a person is converted, if he continues 
to associate as before with unconverted companions, he will 
backslide. 

5. Taking a worldly partner for life is a cause of backslid¬ 
ing. In fact it is a proof that the individual is already a back¬ 
slider. Before a Christian can give the heart to one who is 
not the friend of God, there must certainly be a departure from 
first love, which may be expected to grow worse till God gives 
him up to be filled with his own ways. 

6. The fear of giving offence to worldly friends by being 
strictly religious, often produces backsliding. If you are so 
much afraid of hurting the feelings of your friends, that you 
will let them abuse God in your presence without reproof, you 
will soon be a backslider. Some will even go so far as to 
abuse God themselves, or break his laws for fear of giving of¬ 
fence, or for the sake of being civil to their ungodly companions. 

7. When you begin to neglect or slightly perform ^he duty 
of secret prayer, you are on the brink of backsliding. I have 
mentioned this as one of the evidences of backsliding. It is also 
a cause. Backsliding often takes its rise here. I will mention 
the case of Mr. Oliphant of Auburn, whose memoir is recently 
published, by the title of “ Oliphant’s Remains.” It is to be 
found at the bookstores, and I wish you would all read it, for 
you will find it to contain much that is useful. He was an ex 
cellent man, I knew him well. In the “ Remains ” you will 
find a letter which he wrote to his son, giving an account of his 
own backsliding. He says: 

“ I think I enjoyed religion for two years, or two and a half 
years, after my marriage. It then became evident, that I had 
lost nearly all sweet enjoyment of God. I had greatly relaxed 
in secret prayer—was off my guard, and began to fall an easy 
prey to sin. I began to associate with vain companions, and, of 
course, did not reverence the Sabbath, as T had formerly done. 
The cares of the world loaded me down, and l sought comfort 
in that which I knew was offensive to God. My conscience often 
smote me; but I still retained the form of prayer, with my wife 
and children. My spiritual father, Mr. Thomas Wills, died— 
I did not love his successor at Silver street—I became a rambler, 
on the Sabbath—and having ‘ itching ears,’ I became fond of a 
variety in preaching; and sought it to my hurt. I injured my 
wife and children, by my example, and became involved in the 


406 


BACKSLIDERS. 


fashion and pleasures of the world. I could distinctly perceive, 
how greatly I had forsaken my own mercy; but was so en¬ 
tangled that I had no heart to turn.” 

Here you see the starting point was a want of honest fervency 
in secret prayer. So it is often. Persons begin to pray shorter, 
and with less fervency and frequency, and then, the less they 
pray the less they desire to pray, and they still grow shorter 
and less frequent. The shorter the prayer, the shorter the next 
is like to be, until perhaps he gets where he can hardly be re¬ 
claimed. The way is to resist the beginnings. Take the alarm at 
the very outset. Just as soon as you see an inclination this 
way, shut down the gate and stop there, or your name will soon 
be Backslider. 

8. Neglecting the Bible is another precursor of backsliding. 
This also is not only an evidence but a cause of backsliding. 
No individual, who has a Bible, can enjoy religion unless he 
reads it. And if he reads his Bible carelessly, he will back¬ 
slide. It is amazing to see how little genuine Bible knowledge 
there is in the church. It shows how little they read the Bible, 
and how # little real confidence they have in the Bible, how little 
they care about knowing its contents, and how little they be¬ 
lieve in it, as the word of God. 

9. A want of strict honesty is another prevailing cause of 
backsliding. A want of strict honesty will assuredly under¬ 
mine all your religion. If you allow yourself to over-reach a 
little in business, or to take advantage of others in any way, 
you will backslide. You must not indulge the least degree of 
dishonesty. Unices you are. as honest as if you had but another 
day to live, you cannot maintain your ground in religion. 
Almost all professors of religion in great cities do backslide. 
It is very seldom that you find any of the spirit of prayer in 
this city. I mean as I say, exactly. There are multitudes 
who are called praying people, and very good people too, but 
let any one talk to them about prayer, as the Bible talks on this 
subject, and they will not understand it: they will ask a thou¬ 
sand unmeaning questions, which they never would think of 
asking if they knew any-thing of the subject by experience. On 
this subject no man is right in theory, who has no experience. 
And the reason why there is so little of the purest kind of piety 
in New York is, that so large a proportion of the church, 
almost every one, indulge in some kind of dishonesty, which 
eats out their religion. They do little things which are not 
purely honest. I know they pretend not to call them dishonest 
They say every body understands it, and so on. But it is dis 


BACKSLIDERS. 


407 


honest. And, furthermore, every body does not understand it. 
If every body did understand it, they would not do it. There 
would be no temptation to do it. Thus when a man asks a 
certain price for his goods, and afterwards takes less, showing 
that it was worth less to him, he will tell you he did not expect 
any body would take it at the first price. But, let me ask him, 
if any body should offer you the price you asked, would you 
not take it ? If any body should Suppose you were an honest 
man, who would not ask more for a thing than it was worth, 
would you take it, or would you tell him plainly that you in¬ 
tended to cheat him by getting an extra price for the article, if 
you found him ignorant or careless enough to be taken in? Or 
would you say, I will take less, I only asked more because I 
expected to be beaten down in the price; and would you, if what 
you at first asked, was offered, put the article down to its real 
value? 

1 have been amazed at my own experience among professors 
of religion. Why, I hardly dare offer a man what he asks for 
a thing, for fear he is asking more than it is worth, and I hate 
to offer less for fear of appearing to desire to get the article for 
less than the Teal value, and because I refused to banter, I have 
found, that for somethings I have given about double their value. 
They may say, it is generally understood. Suppose it is. Suppose 
it was generally understood that professors of religion would 
get drunk, or swear, or go to brothels, would that make it any 
better? Would that sanctify such things? But the purchaser, 
is often as much in fault, as the vender. Here is a customer 
comes in, and asks the lowest price of an article, and when told, 
he says, I will not give that, but offers you less. Now, although 
you offered it at the lowest price, at which you could well afford 
to sell it, rather than lose his custom, you let him have it, at 
his own price. In this case, he sins by tempting you, if he 
knows the value of the article, and you sin in letting him have 
it in that way, for you tempt him to banter and serve you so 
again. 

If you think you can practice a little dishonesty, and yet con¬ 
tinue to enjoy the presence of God, you deceive yourselves 
Any one who begins to do those things is either an arrant hypo¬ 
crite, or he will backslide. The churches in this city never can 
enjoy religion steadily, they never can take hold of the work 
• strongly, they never can know the power of prayer, until there 
is a reformation on this subject. Professors of religion must 
have conscience enough to be honest, and faith enough to be¬ 
lieve in a judgment to come, and to believe that God listens to 


408 


BACKSLIDERS. 


every bargain and every lie they tell behind the counter. You 
never can have much religion in New York, until you mend 
your ways. Go into that store, and hear a professor of religion 
bantering about a price, lowering down, and lowering down, 
because he has a sharp customer to deal with. I set that man 
down as a backslider. He is not honest. He is not doing 
business for God. He is not dealing like a steward. Do you 
suppose he is trying to make a good bargain for God? I tell 
you he is not speculating for God, but for himself. God 
does not need him to cheat on his account. All such persons 
will be filled with their own ways. 

10. Covetousness is a fruitful cause of backsliding. Covet¬ 
ousness is idolatry. Withholding more than is meet, not 
only tendeth to poverty in outward things, but it produces spi¬ 
ritual leanness and poverty. Nothing has such a tendency to 
deaden religion. Such professors are always the most difficult 
to wake up, or to keep aw r ake. Show me a man who holds the 
world with a close grasp, and you need not expect he will ever 
do much in religion. Sometimes you find a minister that 
loves money. He is good for nothing. He never will be of 
any use, as a minister, till he gives up that passion. Is he an 
elder in the church ? Appoint no such man to the eldership. 
You might as well appoint the devil an elder, as a covetous 
man. He will only do hurt, he will hold the church back from 
all advancement. If you have any such elders, my counsel is, 
that you get rid of them as soon as you can. They are back¬ 
sliders, and will always stand in the way. God expressly 
forbids having men for deacons who are “ greedy of filthy 
lucre,” and no church will prosper that tolerates such officers. 

11. Another frequent cause of backsliding is the want of per¬ 
fect truth and sincerity m conversation. People do not exactly 
call it lying , but yet it is so much like it that I know not what 
else to call it. A man cannot have a conscience void of offence, 
who is in the habit of exaggeration, coloring and reaching after 
the marvellous in his stories. He will backslide. The only 
way to avoid it, is to tell always the naked, simple truth, just as 
carefully as if you was under oath, or as if you believed that 
God was listening to every word you say. Let your conversa¬ 
tion be Yea, Yea, and Nay, Nay; for whatsoever is more than 
these, cometh of evil. 

12. Tale-bearing. Show me a man or a woman, that loves 
to hear a secret and tell it, and I will show one who is already 
a backslider, and who will grow worse and worse, unless he 
repents. Any person that is always eager to tell the first news, 


BACKSLIDERS. 409 

will live and die a backslider, unless there is a reformation in 
this respect. 

13. Levity. This is so obviously a cause of backsliding, 
that I need not dwell upon it. 

14. An intemperate way of living causes a great deal of 
backsliding. I do not refer merely to the use of intoxicating 
liquor, but to every excess or intemperance in eating and drink¬ 
ing. I do not mean sitting at the table after dinner and drink¬ 
ing glass after glass of wine, till highly excited. Any one who 
will do this is too openly a backslider, to require remark. But 
I speak of those individuals who eat so much as to take off the 
edge of their feelings, and stupify their minds, so that they are 
not as bright and active after eating as before. He who allows 
himself to do this will certainly backslide. Show me a man 
who sits at his table and eats till he is more inclined to sleep 
than pray, and there is one who is beginning to be a glutton 
already. He cannot maintain himself in religion. Even if the 
articles of food are proper in themselves, it is impossible a man 
should indulge in such excess, and keep from backsliding. He 
is intemperate, God looks upon him so. 

III. I proceed to mention some of the consequences of back¬ 
sliding. 

1. Backsliders become the most unhappy people in the world. 

There are many who have known what it was to enjoy God, 

but now they neither enjoy God nor the world. They are 
away from home every where. They are unhappy when they 
rise up and when they lie down. They are like a bird that has 
no rest. They have too much religion to enjoy the world, and 
too much of the world to enjoy God. You who are in this 
state, know that this is true. You are filled with your own ways. 

2. They will be the most guilty people on earth. 

(1.) Their temper will be bad. Such persons are always 
full of complaining and out of humor. They are a stumbling 
block to sinners all around them. If it is a merchant, he is a 
stumbling block to his clerks. If it is a woman, she is a stum¬ 
bling block to her servants. 

(2.) They are more guilty, because they have a clearer knoio- 
ledge of duty. Responsibility increases with a knowledge of 
duty, as every one knows, and as backsliders have had more 
light, they have of course more guilt. 

(3.) They sin against peculiar obligations. They know 
what it is to feel the delight of pardoned sin. They have known 
what it was to feel the love of God shed abroad in the heart. 
If such a man backslides, his guilt is infinitely great. 

35 


410 


BACKSLIDERS. 


(4.) They are covenant breakers , and are the more guilty cm 
that account. They are not only under their responsibility to 
God's law, but they are perjured. To profess religion, and re* 
ceive the sacraments, is to take an oath of allegiance to God. 
To backslide, is to break this oath, and in the eye of God, is 

Perjury. . . 

(5.) They bring up an evil report against religion itself.— 
By going after the world, its amusements, or its honors, or its 
riches, they say to sinners, “ We have tried religion, and we 
have found out that you were right all the time; for religion 
will not answer by itself, and now we are coming back to enjoy 
the world again; we must have the world to make us happv. ,r 
Thus, they are traitors to the cause of Christ. Who shall mea¬ 
sure the guilt of such a course? 

3. Backsliders render themselves the most despicable of alt 
people. 

Both sides condemn a backslider, and both despise him. And 
they have good reason for it, for he is a deserter from both. He 
first deserted from the world to join the church, and then he 
went back and tried to join the world again. Who can trust 
such a character? Who can help despising him. The ungodly 
despise him, he never can recover his former standing among 
them. The church distrust him and set him aside as a broken 
reed. 

I know that the ungodly will sometimes praise a backsliding 
professor. They puff him up, and say, “ We like such a Chris¬ 
tian as that; he is consistent, he is charitable, he is a liberal 
man, such a Christian, is what we like.” But they are not sin¬ 
cere in this. Let a man be as bad as the devil, if he is sick, 
which will he send for to come and pray with him, one of those 
backsliders, or a consistent Christian? Mark that man who 
puffs up the backsliders, and at another time you will hear him 
call them all hypocrites, and laugh at them; “ Pretty Christians 
these, they love the world as well as I do!” Whatever they 
may say , when it suits their turn, it is plain they do not respect 
backsliders. You are greatly deceived if you think you will 
get the good graces of the world by conformity to their ways. 
You are despised, and must be. It is not in the nature of man 
to respect such conduct. 

4. They are the most inconsistent people in the world. 

They adhere consistently to neither party. Their theory 

contradicts their practice, and their practice contradicts their 
theory. They pretend to believe in their hearts, what they 
notoriously contradict by their lives. 


BACKSLIDERS. 


411 


b. They are the most difficult to please. 

No class of people make so much trouble for a minister. If 
he preaches so as to commend himself to their conscience, he 
hurts their feelings, and they oppose him. If he preaches so 
as to satisfy their feelings, then their cofiscience condemns him, 
and they have no confidence in his honesty. You come down 
to their standard and they know you are wrong. There is no 
such thing as pleasing them by preaching. If you crowd the 
truth home to them, they will grumble, and call it harsh and 
personal. If you do not preach so as to cut them to the quick, 
they know that it is wrong, and they will say, “ That will never 
do, we shall never get awake by such preaching as this, the 
minister is as much asleep as we are, and we never can get 
along so.” Thus they will always feel uneasy, let the preach¬ 
ing be as it may. If the preacher temporizes for the sake of 
pleasing, they will have no hearty confidence in him. They 
may pretend to be pleased, and may praise him, and tell what 
a great preacher he is, and what an agreeable man, may extol 
him to the clouds for a scholar or an orator. But they are not 
satisfied in conscience, for they know there cannot be any lea- 
sonable expectation of getting any good to themselves, or having 
a revival, under such preaching. They know that the minister 
ought to preach differently, and they feel that he must preach 
differently, or they must get another minister, or there never 
will be a revival. A minister ought not to conciliate the feel¬ 
ings of professors who are in a backslidden state, by any com¬ 
promise, but he ought to tear open their hearts, and pour in the 
burning truth, till he can drive them out from their bed of slum¬ 
ber and death. 

5. Very often, backsliders are the most hardened people to 
be found. They are so used to the gospel and all its motives, 
that they cease to be moved by it. You may hold up the most 
solemn and piercing truths, you may roll a world of responsi¬ 
bility upon their consciences, and they do not feel. And after 
a while, the more you use the means to arouse them, the more 
they will be hardened, until it seems impossible to move them. 

6. They are the most loathsome people in the world. Christ 
uses language in regard to backsliders, in his epistle to the 
church at Laodicea, which fully expresses this. “ I would thou 
wert either cold or hot. So then, because thou art neither cold 
nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.” God seems to 
loathe them, he cannot endure them, and threatens to spew 
them out as a most loathsome thing. Backslider! IIow can 
you attempt to go near to God, when he feels so ? Perhaps I 


412 


BACKSLIDERS. 


am speaking to some here who know yon are backsliders. 
You know that if you go before God he will loathe you and 
spew you out, he cannot bear you. 

7. They are most injurious to the cause of religion. A back¬ 
slider does more hurt to the cause than an infidel. He does 
more to prejudice the world against religion, more to prevent 
the conversion of sinners, more to favor the designs of the devil, 
than any other person in the world. 

8. Backsliders are the most hypocritical of all people. They 
serve neither God nor the devil, sincerely. They have for¬ 
saken the devil, so that they no longer serve him with single¬ 
ness of heart, and have given themselves to God, but now they 
do not serve him. They are hypocrites on both sides. Neither 
God nor the devil can trust them. 

9. When an individual backslides, if he continues in that 
way without reformation, sooner or later the very same thing 
will come upon him which he dreaded, and which was the oc¬ 
casion of his backsliding. Suppose it was a regard to reputa¬ 
tion that made him backslide. He is a politician, perhaps, and 
he became a backslider in heart, because he wanted to get 
some office. By and by you will see that man put down in 
politics, and lose his office, and so the very thing comes upon 
him that he was eager to avoid. God will order it, somehow 
or other, so as to bring the very curse upon him that he dread¬ 
ed, and he is filled with his own ways. Instead of being lifted 
up and kept up, as he expected, God has lifted him up to let 
him fall, and make his fall more signal. 

Suppose the individual desires to be rich, and in the pursuit 
of riches backslides from God. As certain as he is a Chris¬ 
tian, God will blast his riches. God values his soul a great 
deal more than his wealth, and HE will not hesitate to burn up 
all that property, if there is no better way to deliver him from it. 

If he has backslidden through fear of getting the ill will of 
his friends, or through fear of persecution, very likely he will 
in some other way lose the good will of those very persons. 
Most marvelous instances could be pointed out, if I had time 
where backsliders have thus been filled with their own ways 
Their course has resulted in the entire loss of those very ob¬ 
jects which they prized more than the favor of God, and in the 
suffering of those very evils which they dreaded more than his 
frown and curse. 

10. If you continue in your backslidden state, you may ex¬ 
pect that by and by God will let you fall into some iniquity or 
some disgrace, that will be a source of vexation and trial to yon 


BACKSLIDERS. 


413 


as long as you live. I have known men who have backslidden 
to get rich, and they have got into debt and failed, and gone 
down to their graves loaded with anxiety and reproach. 1 knew 
a man, perhaps he is now living, who to gratify an ungodly and 
ambitious son, entered upon a course of speculation that first 
destroyed his piety, and then he failed in his speculation and 
became a bankrupt, and got into such a sea of trouble and toil 
as will harass him to the day of his death. He used to give 
liberally to missions, and every good cause, but now he can 
hardly give a shilling at the monthly concert, because he feels 
that he owes it, and perhaps it is wronging his creditors. All 
this is simply being filled with his own ways. 

Sometimes, when backsliding is occasioned by an idolatrous 
attachment to a wife or a child, God takes away the desire of 
their eyes at a stroke. All this is because God is faithful. He 
sees one of his children leaning on an idol, and he puts forth 
his hand and withers away the idol in an instant, rather than 
let a child of his live and die in sin, and go to hell. 

REMARKS. 

1. There is no way for young converts to keep from being 
backsliders, but by guarding against the beginning of decline. 

Backsliding comes on very much like intemperance, gradual¬ 
ly, from the smallest beginnings, in a way that is overlooked. 
No man ever commenced the career of becoming a drunkard 
with his eyes open, intending to do it. He first, perhaps, takes 
a glass on some public day. By and by he begins to keep it in 
his house to treat his friends, or to take it with bitters, or as a 
medicine. Next he takes a few drops with his dinner, to help 
digestion. And so he goes on, without suspecting his danger, 
till he is a drunkard before he is aware. Nine-tenths of those 
who become drunkards, are led on from small beginnings, in 
some such way as this. In much the same way, persons become 
backsliders by little and little. They do not intend to backslide, 
but they take the first step without knowing where it will lead, 
and then they more easily take the second, and so on. The 
only security is in adopting the principle of TOTAL ABSTI¬ 
NENCE from sin. Avoid those little things , as they call 
them, which lead the way. If they begin to allow themselves 
in some such “little thing” they are gone. They may continue 
to keep up the show of godliness, but it will be without the power, 
and they overlook the fact, that they have become loathsome 

35 * 


414 


BACKSLIDERS 


backsliders in the sight of God. See that woman. If yon could 
listen at the door of her closet, you would be convinced at once that 
she is not half in earnest. She keeps up the form of secret 
prayer very strictly, but there is no heart in it. Prays in secret? 
She mocks God in secret! She is a backslider. 

2. You see the duty of church members to watch over young 
converts in love, and put them on their guard against the begin¬ 
nings of backsliding. They should watch them, just as a 
mother watches her little child, to see that it does not go near 
where it will fall. Look out for them, and if you see them 
verging near the lines, warn them, “ Beware! go not near that 
brink—hell is there.” Ask them, early and frequently, “ Do 
you pray now as frequently and fervently as you did? Do you 
love the Bible as much as you did ?” And keep them on the 
guard, and thus prevent them from backsliding. 

3. There is great reason to praise God for all that he does 
with his people when they backslide. 

He follows them with stripes, till they return. He says, 
“ If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments, 
then will I visit their transgression with a rod, and their ini¬ 
quity with stripes; nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not 
utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.” 

4. If any of you are in a backslidden state, or if you are a 
professor of religion and have these marks, and if God does not 
chastise you, and if you are still prosperous, you have reason to 
fear that you are given up of God. You have great reason to 
fear that you never were a child of God, and never knew the 
love of God, but are a hypocrite on the way to hell. How long 
have you been in this state? How long is it since you leu 
what you call your first love ? If it is long, and you are not 
yet chastised, you have reason to believe it is because you are a 
hypocrite. God is faithful, and he will chastise his children 
when they backslide. He has promised to do it, and he will 
not fail. 

Or does God chastise you ? If so, repent, before he chastises 
you any more. Do not wait for him to chastise you to death, 
or till he lets you fall into the snares of the devil, and into some 
grievous sin that shall disgrace and torment you as long as you 
live. Come back, O Backslider, come back to God. Seek his 
face, renounce your sin, and he will heal your backslidings, and 
forgive your transgressions, and bless your soul. 


LECTURE XXII. 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 

Text.—" Grow in grace.” 2 Pet. iii. 18L 

This evening I must conclude all that I have to say at present 
on the subject of Revivals. There are several other subjects 
which I designed to discuss, but have not had time. It is pos¬ 
sible that I may resume the subject in the fall if I live to return 
to the city, according to my present intention. One of the sub¬ 
jects which I fully intended to discuss, was that of Evangelists, 
the importance of having such a class of ministers to be em¬ 
ployed in revivals—their relation to the church and the ministry, 
the manner in which they are to be received and treated, both 
by pastors and churches, and the principles on which they 
ought to govern themselves in discharging the appropriate 
duties of their office. But at present, J.have concluded that it 
would be better to conclude this course of lectures with a ser¬ 
mon on 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 

The term grace is used in the Bible in several different 
senses. When applied to God its meaning is not the same as 
when applied to man. Grace, in God, is synonymous with be¬ 
neficence. It is undeserved favor. This is the sense in which 
the term is used by theologians in reference to God. In men, 
grace means holiness , that is the sense in which it is used in the 
text, and to grow in grace is the same as to grow in holiness, or 
to increase in conformity to God. In discussing this subject, I 
design to pursue the following order: 

I. Show what is meant by growing in grace. 

II. Mention some things which are not evidences of growth 
In grace. 

III. What are some of the evidences of growth in grace. 

IV. Show how it is to be done, or in what way Christians 
may grow in grace. 

V. Mention some of the evidences of a decline in piety ot 
grace. 


416 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


VI. How to escape or recover from a state of decline in 
piety. 

I. What is meant by growing in grace ? 

To grow in grace is to increase in a spirit of conformity to 
the will of God, and to govern our conduct more and more by 
the same principles that God does. God has one great absorb¬ 
ing object, that controls every thing he does. It is the promo¬ 
tion of his own glory by seeking to fill the universe with holi¬ 
ness and happiness. He does this by exhibiting his own char¬ 
acter. And our object should be the same, to exhibit the char¬ 
acter of God more and more, to reflect as many rays of the 
image of God as possible. That is, we must aim constantly to 
be more and more like God. To do this more and more is to 
grow in grace. In other words, it is to obey more and more 
perfectly and constantly the law of God. That is growing in 
grace, becoming more holy, or obeying God more fully and con¬ 
stantly. 

II. I will mention some things that are not evidences of 
growth in grace, although they are sometimes supposed to be 
such. 

1. It is not a certain evidence that an individual grows in 
grace, because he grows in gifts. 

A professor of religion may increase in gifts, that is, he may 
become more fluent in prayer, and more eloquent in preaching, 
or more pathetic in exhortation, without being any more holy. 
We naturally increase in that in which we exercise ourselves. 
And if any person often exercises himself in exhortation, he will 
naturally, if he makes any effort or lays himself out, increase in 
fluency and pungency. But he may do all this, and yet have 
no grace at all. He may pray ever so engagedly, and increase 
in fluency and apparent pathos, and yet have no grace. People 
who have no grace often do so. It is true, if he has grace, and 
exercises himself in these things, as he grows in grace he will 
grow in gifts. No person can exercise himself in obeying God, 
without improving in those exercises. If he does not improve in 
gifts, it is a true sign he does not grow in grace. But on the 
other hand it is not evidence that he grows in grace, because he 
improves in certain exercises, for they will naturally improve 
by practice, whether he is a sinner or a hypocrite. 

2. Growing in knowledge is not evidence of growth in grace. 
Knowledge is indispensable to grace, and growth in knowledge 
is essential to growth in grace, but knowledge is not grace, and 
growth in knowledge does not constitute growth in grace. A 
person may grow ever so much in knowledge and have no 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


417 


grace at all. In hell no doubt they grow in knowledge hut 
never in grace. Their growth in knowledge constitutes hell. 
They know more and more of God and his law and their own 
guilt, and the more they know the more wretched they are. They 
have more and more experience of God’s wrath, hut they never 
learn piety from it. 

3. It is not evidence that a person grows in grace, because 
he thinks he-is doing so. A person may he favorably impressed 
with regard to his progress in religion, when it is evident to 
others that he is not only making no progress, hut is in fact de¬ 
clining. An individual who is growing worse is not ordinarily 
sensible of the fact. It is common for both impenitent sinners 
and those who are pious to think they are growing better, when 
they are no better. This is so, from the nature of the mind, as 
any one who will attend to the philosophy of the mind can see. 
If a person is growing worse, his conscience will become more 
and more seared, and his mind more and more dark, as he stifles 
conscience and resists light. Then he may think he is grow¬ 
ing better, just because he has less and less sense of sin, and 
while his conscience continues to sleep, he may continue under 
a fatal delusion. 

It is manifest that where a professor gets the idea that he is 
growing rapidly in grace, it is a suspicious circumstance. For 
the best of reasons. To grow better implies a more clear and 
distinct knowledge of the breadth of God’s law, and a growing 
sense of the sinfulness of sin. But the more clear an individual’s 
view's become of the standard, the lower will bo the estimate 
which he forms of himself, because the clearer will be his views 
of the distance at which he still is from that pure and perfect 
standard of holiness to which God requires him to conform all 
his conduct. If he compares himself with a low standard, he will 
think he is doing pretty well. This is the reason why there is 
such a difference in people’s views of their own state, and of the 
state of the church. They compare themselves and the state of 
the churches with different standards. Hence, when one complains 
of the church, and thinks his brethren are cold, another thinks it 
censorious, and thinks it strange that the other should find so much 
fault with the church, w'hen they appear to him to be doing pretty 
well.—The reason why he does not think the church is cold is 
that he is cold himseif, and he does not feel his own state because 
he does not judge by the right standard, for he does not look 
at his life in the light of God’s holy law. If a man shuts his 
eyes, he does not see the defilement on his person, and may think 
lie is clean while to all around he appears to be loathsome. I have 


418 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


always observed this to be true, that when persons are making’, 
in reality, the most rapid advances in holiness, they have the 
most debasing views of themselves, and the humblest sense of 
their state. I do not mean, that those who understand the sub¬ 
ject, and who know what are evidences of growth in grace, may 
not by reasoning or by comparing their present with their former 
views, feelings, and character, coine to the conclusion that they 
are growing in grace. But that, if they should determine simply 
by their present views of what they are, and what God requires, 
if they should not reason on the subject, they would come to the 
conclusion that they were growing worse and worse. Indivi¬ 
duals who were making rapid progress have often felt so, be¬ 
cause they saw more and more clearly the standard with which 
they are to compare themselves. But yet, if they understand 
well what growth in grace is, and what are the evidences of it, 
when they set themselves down to reason about the matter, they 
may become convinced that they are growing in grace, although 
at the same time they will feel more and more humbled under 
a sense of their sins. 

III. I will mention some things that are evidences of growth 
in grace. 

1. When an individual finds he has more singleness of heart 
and more purity of motive in his conduct, it is evidence that he 
is growing in grace. I will explain what I mean. Even re¬ 
ligious men are apt to be influenced in their conduct by a 
vaiiety of motives, and some of them maybe merely selfish. 
These motives together make up the complex whole that in¬ 
fluences the individual to do a certain act. For instance, sup¬ 
pose a man is asked to give money to build a church in some 
particular place. He may have a variety of reasons for doing 
it. He may wish to see a more respectable house there on 
some account, or it may be so located that if built it will in¬ 
crease the value of his property, or he wishes to be thought 
liberal, or it may be an object with him to obtain the favor of 
that church and people. All or any of these may have some in¬ 
fluence in determining his mind, and still, after all, a motive of 
greater weight than the whole may be a desire to save souls and 
to build up the kingdom of God. Here it is easy to see that 
some of the considerations which make up the complex whole, 
are selfish, and so far are wrong and wicked. Now sinners are 
only selfish in all that they do. And when men are converted, 
although their leading object then is to glorify God and save 
souls, yet when they are young in the Christian life, and weak 
in religion, ignorance and the force of habit will still keep them 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


419 


more or less under the influence of private considerations, and 
they will be exceedingly apt to perform right things from wrong 
motives. To grow in grace is to grow in purity of motive, mo.^j 
and more to exclude selfish reasons, and to act more exclusively 
from a regard to the glory of God. 

You that are here can tell whether from year to year your 
motives are more single, more pure, more free from selfishness 
How is it ? Are you growing more and more free from selfish¬ 
ness? Do you act more with a single reference to God’s 
glory, leaving self more and more out of view ? 

2. An individual who grows in grace is more and more 
actuated by principle, and less and less by emotion or feeling. 
I do not mean that such a person has less feeling, but that he 
acts less under the influence of feeling or emotion. He does 
things less because he feels so, and more because it is right. 
By principle I do not mean a seed, or sprout or root, or any 
thing created and put into the soul. It is all nonsense to talk 
about such kind of holiness, or such a principle as that. By 
principle in contradistinction from feeling or emotion, I mean a 
controlling determination in the mind to do right. 

Young converts are seldom actuated at first so much by prin¬ 
ciple, but are borne along by the tide of their feelings, and un¬ 
less they feel deeply, it is Sometimes difficult to get them to act 
as they ought. But if they grow in grace, they will learn to 
go forward, and obey the commandments of God, whatever their 
feelings may be. Young converts are apt to imagine that all 
religion consists in emotion or feeling, and that whatever regard 
a man may have to the authority of God, however much regard 
he may have to what is right , still his conduct is not accept¬ 
able unless it be done under the full tide of emotion. He will 
therefore often wait till these emotions first exist in his mind, 
before he addresses himself to the performance of duty. But 
converts should know that the way to call emotion or feeling 
into exercise, is to engage, from principle , in the performance of 
duty. And that whenever a man engages in the performance 
of duty, from a regard to the authority of God, he may expect 
in this way, to call into exercise those feelings for which young 
converts are so apt to wait. A growing regard to the authority 
of God, a strengthening of the purpose of obedience, a more firm 
and constant adherence to what is right, and to what God re¬ 
quires because it is right, at once constitutes, and is an evidence 
of, growth in grace. 

3. Another important evidence of growth in grace is more 
love to God. By this I do not mean that there will be in all 


420 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


cases a conscious increase of emotions of love to God. But that 
there will be a strengthening of real attachment to God’s char¬ 
acter and government. This may be illustrated by the opera¬ 
tion of a growing attachment to our country, or to our families. 
Very young persons are apt to have but little love for their 
country. But as they grow older, and have more experience, 
if the government is good, their attachment to it increases, until 
in the decline of life you will see an aged patriot with his crutch 
and his gun, ready to turn out and hobble to the field of battle, 
to repel the invaders of his country’s peace. I do not mean by 
this that increasing love to God leads individuals to use carnal 
weapons, in either building up or defending his government.— 
But that if they are true friends to God, the longer they live un¬ 
der his government, the more confidence they have in him, and 
the more attachment to him. And this increased attachment 
will evince itself in a growing veneration for all the institutions 
of religion, for the Sabbath, and for all the commands of God, 

It is true, where there is a growth in principle, there is com¬ 
monly a proportionate increase of feeling. But this is not al¬ 
ways so. There may be various causes for the mind’s exer¬ 
cising less of felt emotion, while it actually increases in the 
strength of holy principle. But let there be no mistake on this 
subject. I have said that by principle I mean a regard to what is 
right, and a fixed determination to do that which is duty. Let no one 
say, therefore, while he neglects his duly , and his heart is cold, 
that he is growing in principle, although he has less feeling than 
others. To grow in principle is to grow in obedience. And it 
is in vain for a man who neglects his duty, to profess to be grow¬ 
ing in grace. 

4. Another evidence of growth in grace is when a person in¬ 
creases in love to men as well as love to God. Growing Chris¬ 
tians show by their lives that they become continually more 
and more inclined to do good to men. Their hearts become 
more and more enlarged in benevolence to all men. Young 
converts are apt to be chiefly influenced by a special and par¬ 
tial regard to individuals, their relations, or their former com¬ 
panions or neighbors. But as they grow in grace these cir¬ 
cumstances makeless and less difference in their feelings, towards 
their friends and towards others. Their hearts expand, they 
have more and more feeling for the heathen, and for all the world. 
As they increase in piety, they feel more and more a desire that 
the world should be converted to God. They have more and 
more heart-breaking agony at the dreadful state of men in their 
sins. And their views and affections rise and expand, until they 




GROWTH IN GRACE. 


421 


feel, like God, their bowels of compassion yearn for all men tha* 
they might repent and be saved. 

Beloved does it appear so to you ? Is this your state of mind ? 
Are you more and more weighed down with the idea that men 
are going to hell ? And have you greater and greater desires 
that the world should be converted to God? 

5. Those who grow in grace feel more and more self-loathing 
They have greater humility and self-abasement. I suppose the 
saints will increase in this to all eternity. I see nothing in this 
inconsistent with the happiness of heaven. It seems to me that 
to all eternity as the ages roll round, the saints will feel con¬ 
stantly, more and more, how much they deserve to be sent to 
hell for their wickedness. As they see the development of 
God’s government, and the displays of his infinite goodness, 
they will be more and more impelled to exclaim, “ O how wicked 
I was, what an infinite wretch, how much I deserve to lie in 
hell rather than to be in heaven.” It is so here in this world. 
Growing Christians more and more loathe themselves, and 
wonder how God could have spared such wretches. Job, when 
he was in darkness, justified himself throughout. He declared 
that his prayer was pure, and that he did not deserve these ca¬ 
lamities. And God had said he was a perfect and an upright 
man. He did not mean that Job was perfectly sinless, for it was 
not true that he was perfect in this sense. But God meant to say, 
he was sincere. This is the meaning of the word perfect here. 
And it is generally the meaning of it in the Bible He meant 
to say that Job was honest in religion. Job remained in this 
darkness, and all the while justifying himself, for a long time, 
but by and by he had clear views of God, and all his self-justi¬ 
fication was gone, and he cried out, “ I have heard of thee by 
hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I 
abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Such deep self- 
abasement was the natural result of clear views of God. 

So it was with Isaiah. I have been confounded when I have 
heard some persons talk of their purity, and of being entirely 
pure from their sins, and of being perfect. They must have 
vastly different views of themselves from what Job and Isaiah 
had. What did Isaiah see? He says, “I saw the LORD 
sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the 
temple. Above it stood the seraphim; each one had six wings, 
with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his 
feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and 
said, Holy, Holy, HOLY, is the Lord of hosts; the whole 
earth is full of his glory.” What was the effect of a view a 

36 



422 


GROWTH IN GRACH. 


God on his mind? “ Wo is me !” said Isaiah, “Wo is me, 
for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I 
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have 
seen the King, the Lord of Hosts 1” Hear that man saying 
that he is perfect, that he is pure from his sins. Is he ? 1 ask 

again, Is he ? I doubt that man. What! When Isaiah had 
but a glimpse of God, and of heaven, it was so holy that he was 
overwhelmed, he could not endure it, his self-abasement was so 
great that until an angel took a live coal from off the altar and 
touched his lips, and assured him his sins were forgiven, he 
was in despair. This is the natural result of having a clear 
view of God. It makes a person sink down in self-abasement 
lower , and lower, and LOWER, so that when he comes into 
the presence of God, he wants to find a place so infinitely low 
before God, words cannot express it. 

Beloved, do you know any thing of this? Do you grow in 
grace in this respect ? Do you feel day by day as if you 
wanted to get lower and lower in the dust before God ? Have 
you ever felt so that you could say in truth, as President Ed¬ 
wards did: “ O that I could get infinitely low before God !” 

6. An increased abhorrence of sin is another mark of growth 
in grace. When a person feels day by day less and less dis¬ 
posed to compromise with sin, with any sin, in himself or in 
others, it is a sign that he is growing in grace. Is it so with 
you, beloved ? Have you daily less and less fellowship with 
sin in all shapes, in YOURSELF and in others? Do you feel 
more as God feels towards sin ? 

7. He who grows in grace has less relish for the world.— 
He has less and less desire for its wealth, its honors, its 
pleasures. A desire for these things has less and less influ¬ 
ence, as a motive, in his mind. He seeks wealth and honor 
only as instruments of glorifying God and of doing good to 
men. 

A person who is growing in grace becomes less fond of 
wordly company and worldly conversation, and reading world¬ 
ly booKS, or newspapers. You see a growing Christian 
engaged in holiness, and you will find he cares very little for 
intelligence of any kind, unless it has a bearing some way or 
other, upon the kingdom of God. You will find him rather 
seeking after the most spiritual things he can get hold of. He 
will seize hold of the most spiritual books to read. He will love 
the company and conversation of the most spiritual Christians. 
He will relish, and if possible attend the most pungent, and 
searching spiritual preaching. 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


423 


8. Increasing delight in the fellowship of the saints, is another 
evidence of growth in grace. The growing Christian loves to 
unite with others in acts of devotion, and other religious exer¬ 
cises, and loves to enjoy religious intercourse. Do you know 
what this is, beloved ? Do you increase in this? 

9. He who grows in grace finds it more and more easy to 
exercise a forgiving spirit, and to pray for his enemies. There 
is nothing in which men, who are in their natural state, more 
resemble the devil, than in their harboring angry and revenge¬ 
ful feelings toward those who have injured them. A young 
convert often finds it hard to forgive. When he feels himself 
injured, very often he finds he cannot pray. That wrong comes 
right up before his mind, and he cannot pray. Now if he lets 
it rankle in his bosom, till he gets angry, it is most likely he 
will backslide. He does hot mean to be angry, but if he does 
not heartily forgive the pne that he thinks has done him wrong, 
it will run on till darkness fills his soul, and his revengeful 
feelings will destroy his religion. If a person is growing in. 
grace, he will find it more and more easy to forgive. He will 
find that he is less apt to lay up any thing against another, and 
that it costs him less trouble to get over supposed injuries, so 
as to be able to pray. Do you find this to be so, you who hear 
me to night; is it easier for you to forgive, can you forgive the 
greatest injuries at once, so that nothing of the kind can come 
up between you and God, to hinder your prayers ? 

10. Growing more charitable is an evidence of growth in grace. 
I do not mean by charitable, that he should be more ready to be¬ 
lieve every body a Christian who professes to be so. But he is 
more ready to ascribe a person’s apparently wrong conduct to 
mistake, or misapprehension, or some other cause, than to direct 
evil intention. Nothing more satisfactorily shows the Christian. 
If you find an individual inclined to put the best construction 
on actions, whenever they are susceptible of two constructions; 
as, for instance, if an act appears on the face of it to be unkind¬ 
ness or neglect, and the individual is apt to think it was not 
designedly wrong, but only done through a mistake, or some 
other motive of that kind, you have evidence that such a person 
is growing in grace. 

11. Having less and less anxiety about worldly things is an 
evidence of growth in grace. A growing Christian will more 
and more perfectly obey the command, “ Be careful for 
nothing,” that is, Be not anxious, “but in every thing by 
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests 
be made known unto God.” All anxiety about the woi^ld is 


424 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


wicked. Persons who grow in grace have more and more 
confidence in God, and less and less love for the world, and 
of course will be less liable to feel anxiety about worldly things. 

12. Becoming more ready to bestow property is a sign of 
growth in grace. If a person is growing in grace he will he 
more and more ready to give, and willingto give ALL that is in 
his power. He will rejoice to be called on. He will give rw re 
and more yearly. If he gives from right motives he will be 
glad when he has given. And the more he gives, the more he 
loves to give. His giving will be a part of his religion, and he 
will grow in it just as in prayer. Now you know, the more a 
person prays, the more he loves to pray. Do you find this evi¬ 
dence that you are growing in grace? Is it more and more a 
pleasure to you to give, according to your ability, for every 
good object, according as you have opportunity ? Do you give 
according to your ability, or do you give only just as much as 
is necessary to keep up appearances ? 

13. He feels less and less as if he had any separate interest. 
It is a great thing, in regard to growth in grace, to feel that all 
you have is Christ’s, and that you have absolutely no separate 
interests, no private interest in living, or in dying, or in holding 
property, or children, or character. “ Whether we live, we live 
unw the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; 
whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” This is 
a great and solemn lesson to learn. Persons who grow in grace 
feel that their time, talents, property, life itself, have value, only 
in their relation to Christ’s kingdom. 

14. It is an evidence of growth in grace where a person be¬ 
comes more willing to confess faults before men. It is a great 
thing to be ready to confess to men. It is a point often hard to 
learn. Men are willing to confess to God,,because they have 
not so far to stoop, to do this. But to confess fully and frankly 
to men is a great stoop for a proud heart. But when they grow 
in grace, they would just as soon confess a fault, and confess 
as frankty, to a servant, or an enemy, or the lowest member of 
society, as to the most exalted individual. Do you know this? 
Do you feel it less and less painful to confess a fault? There 
is no man who knows his own heart, that has not found a struggle 
necessary to bring his mind to confess to individuals. A man 
can confess to God, but many cannot without a struggle confess 
a fault to a friend, ora servant, or an enemy. But as he grows 
in grace, he will become ready to confess, if he has done wrong 
to any body, yes, to the entire universe. If he is perfectly 
humble, he will be willing to confess, if all the universe should 


■GROWTH IN GRACE. 


425 


hear. If you cannot do this, be sure you are not growing in 
grace, if you have any grace. 

15. Growing in grace raises a person more and more 
above the world. The growing saint regards less and less 
either the good or ill opinions of men. He feels that it is of 
little importance, only as it may affect his usefulness. I do 
not mean by this, that a person should have a proud contempt 
for the opinions of his fellow men. He may feel and manifest 
this, and instead of having more evidehce of weanedness from 
the world, he will have evidence of his consummate pride. But 
if a person is growing in grace, only let him see his DUTY, 
and he will not turn aside although public opinion should be all 
against him. He will not do, or omit to do, any thing, but 
from a regard to the glory of God. The frowns or the flat¬ 
teries of the world will not be taken into the account when he 
sees his duty. It is amazing to see how much of what appears 
to be religion, is, after all, a mere obsequious yielding to public 
opinion, instead of yielding obedience to God. Public opinion 
requires that those who have made a profession of religion 
should do so and so, and therefore they do so. 

IV. I am to show you how to grow in grace. 

This is a highly important subject to young converts, that 
they should know how it is done. 

I. They should watch. They should watch against their 
besetting sins. 

(1.) Levity. I need not enlarge on this any farther than to 
say, that it is the besetting sin of many persons, and unless they 
place a tenfold watch at the door of their lips, they will never 
grow in grace. Once yielding to a spirit of levity, may grieve 
the spirit and put out your light for a day, and giving way 
once, but makes way for a repetition, so that unless you begin 
with decision and continue with great prayer and watchings, 
to keep down the spirit of levity, you aVe undone. 

(2.) Censoriausness. Young converts are particularly in 
danger of this. They enter upon religion full of ardor, and 
they are soon amazed at the coldness and apathy of old profes¬ 
sors. And they have room to be amazed. Heaven and earth 
are amazed at the manner in which old professors lay stumbling 
blocks before young converts. And it is no wonder that young 
converts, when they see such things, should imagine, in the 
warmth of their feeling, that such professors have no religion. 
And so they are liable to say hard and (ierisorious things. But 
they ought to learn carefully to distinguish between the deep 
principles of ripe Christians, and the lively feelings of young 

36* 


426 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


converts. If they keep this in mind, they will not be so likely 
to misjudge. And whatever may be their sober judgment 
about the state of others, young converts ought to be very care¬ 
ful what they say of them. Don’t keep talking about the faults of 
others. Do not speak censoriously of any. If you do, you 
will grieve away the Holy Spirit, and you will not grow in 
grace. 

(3.) Anger. How many Christians are injured by letting 
their temper rise. If they are women, they fret at their ser¬ 
vants. Men fret at their clerks, or at those who are in their 
employ, or they get angry with the government, or with their 
neighbors, go to finding fault in some way or other, that shows 
they do not watch their temper. How can they grow in grace ? 

(4.) Pride. Guard against pride and vanity in all their 
forms. Be very careful never to purchase an article of dress, 
or furniture, or any thing calculated to foster vanity in your 
mind. Woman, you are going to buy a bonnet, be careful not 
to get one that will make you think of it when you wear it. 
Alas ! how much pains some people take to foster their own 
bad passions. The devil might go to sleep, in regard to some 
Christians; he has no need to lie in wait to tempt them, they 
tempt themselves, they are doing the very things that are calcu¬ 
lated to puff them up with pride. Such foolishness is enough 
to make them the ridicule of Satan. Young females, young 
men, be careful, watch against this. In how many places has 
this been the history. During the winter a revival, many con¬ 
verted, all engaged ; spring comes, and somebody sets them all 
agog for some new fashion, and then where is your prayer-meet¬ 
ings'? Here are these young converts taken in the snare, and 
all gone off to worship the goddess of fashion. I mean that by 
degrees the young ladies and others are drawn off from con¬ 
versation and thinking upon religion, to conversing and think¬ 
ing of something new in dress or equipage, or some vain thing 
that eats up their spirituality, and leaves them in great darkness. 

(5.) Selfishness in all its forms. Here is the great root of all 
the difficulty. This is the foundation, the fountain, the sub¬ 
stance and sum total of all the iniquity under heaven. Watch 
here, look out constantly, see where self comes out in your con¬ 
duct, and there set a guard. If you are making a bargain, see 
to it that you do not act from selfish motives. Deal just as you 
would do if you were dying. Do as you would be done by. 

If you find you are disposed to act selfishly, shut down the 
gate, stop there. If you are about to deal in any other way than 
you would if God stood visibly before you—STOP. The devil 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


427 


is in that bargain. You never will grow in grace unless you 
are exceedingly on your guard against self in your bargains. 
If you find this mighty self coming in to interfere, bid him to 
stand away. “ Stand away, self, you are not to speak here, I 
am doing business for God.” You cannot grow in grace, until 
you stop the mouth of this “ self.” 

(6.) Sloth. This is an evil, great enough to ruin the world 
How many converts stop and decline by sloth. In plain terms 
they get lazy. Like idle servants, they saunter about as if they 
had nothing to do, they will not take hold of the work, they are 
mere eye-servants, unprofitable enough, a moth to the church. 

(7.) Envy. If you see others going ahead of you in pros¬ 
perity, in influence or in talents, examine your feelings, and see 
whether you are pleased at it. If the sight gives you pain, or 
make you uneasy, beware. 

(8.) Ambition. By this sin angels fell, and it is impossible to 
grow in grace without suppressing it. 

(9.) Impure thoughts. We are so much under the influence 
of sensible objects that unless we Watch diligently, before we are 
aware, we are perverted with impure thoughts. It is necessary 
to make a covenant with our eyes, and with our ears too, and 
all our senses, or they will prove the inlet of temptation and 
sin. If you find yourself in danger, turn your thoughts away 
instantly. If you let your mind run on,* it is impossible you 
should avoid impure thoughts. Here is the responsibility, the 
will can control the thoughts, you can think of one thing or you 
can think of another, as you please, and thus control your emo¬ 
tions, and therefore you are responsible for them. Let an in¬ 
dividual suffer his thoughts to dwell on a subject, and he cannot 
but be affected by it, and he is responsible for the effect because 
he can govern his thoughts. In all such cases, I tell you, GO 
AWAY, turn ofF your mind, or impure thoughts will fester in 
your soul, till they prove a gangrene. 

2. Another direction for growing in grace, is, Take care to 
exercise all the Christian graces. If a little child does not ex¬ 
ercise its faculties, it will neter be any thing but a child. 

Rock it in a cradle till it grows to man’s size, and it is still in 
a state of babyhood. It is impossible that the muscles should 
have strength"but by exercise. It is equally impossible that the 
graces of a Christian should grow and have strength, if they 
are not exercised. Here I wish to suggest a thought for you to 
dwell upon. The soul thinks by using the brain, just as it sees by 
using the eyes, or hears by using the ears. And the brain needs 
exercise, in order to have strength, just as much as any other part 


428 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


of the body. What is it that gives power to the mind that stu- 
dies. The exercise of the brain. Any power of the mind, in¬ 
tellectual or moral, increases by exercise. You know that the 
more you use your arm, the more powerfully you can use it, 
and with the more ease. See that musician, how he moves his 
fingers on his instrument, with what precision, and almost with 
the rapidity of thought. So it is with the mind that uses the brain. 
By exercise it gains the brain so entirely under control, that it 
can throw itself at once into any act, exercise, or attitude, and 
is never at a loss, or taken by surprise. Just so with the Chris¬ 
tian graces, they must grow and be cultivated by exercise. It 
is just as absurd to expect that the mind can readily and pow¬ 
erfully throw itself into them , without practice, as to expect that 
it shall throw itself readily and powerfully into any intellectual 
operation without practice. 

Exercise yourself especially in those things where you find 
yourselves most deficient, whether the defect arises from your 
previous habits, or constitutional temperament, or circumstances 
of life. If you are exposed to a particular sin, guard there. If 
you are deficient in a particular grace, exercise that. 

(1.) Suppose you are naturally wordly minded, and in danger 
of being carried away by the love of the world. Shut down 
the gate, and determine that you will on no account add to your 
wealth, or lay field to field. Do nothing of the kind. 

What would you think of any body who should go to re¬ 
claiming a drunkard by filling his cellar with wine and all sorts 
of tempting liquors? You would say he was deranged. Not 
a particle more beside himself than is that professor of religion, 
who knows he is inclined to love the‘world, and yet will go on 
adding to his wealth. He needs no devil, he tempts himself, 
he takes the most effectual course to destroy himself. If you 
are tempted to indulge a worldly spirit, pour out more and more, 
give often, give liberally, give heartily, bountifully, increase 
your gifts, give to every object, give away every thing you have 
on earth, if that is necessary to knock on the head this hateful 
ppirit. Relieve yourself from the temptation to hoard up the 
wealth of this world. Carry this out, and you will find that the 
more you give, the more you gain advantage, and your soul will 
grow in grace. 

(2.) Suppose you are in danger of being flattered and lifted 
up with pride. As a reasonable being you are bound to know 
this, and be on your guard. There is a woman who has a hus¬ 
band, doating on her, and wants to dress her up like a graven 
image and worship her. Be firm and say, '* I am not going to 



GROWTH IN GRACE. 


429 


be worshipped. I worship God myself, and will not be in idol 
for man.” I have known some Christian women, who, when 
asked how they could wear such and such expensive dresses, 
say, “ O, it is to please my husband, he is a worldly man, and 
loves to see me wear them, and he can afford it, and so I gratify 
him.” Suppose now he should build a temple, and set up an 
altar in it, and then wish you to stand up there and be his god¬ 
dess, and let him offer incense, and some one should say, “ How 
is this ? I thought you professed to worship Jehovah, and do 
you stand up here to be worshipped yourself?” You should 
reply, “ O, I do it to please my husband, he is an ungodly man, 
and wishes to do so, and I like to gratify him, I hope in this way 
to lead him along, and retain an influence on his mind, that in 
Goffs time I hope to make him a Christian.” Why, you have 
just as much right to say this, as you have to be decked out in 
all this gaudy drapery of fashion, and made an idol of in the way 
you are. REMEMBER, you are a servant of Jesus Christ, 
and you have no right to yield to any mortal, that authority 
which belongs to HIM. And besides, this pretence of doing it 
to please your husband, is, in nine cases out of ten, all a sham. 
You do it to please yourself. Beware. If you are inclined to 
be proud, guard against it as against the gates of death. 

(3.) If you find,that you are reluctant to confess your faults, 
break right over it, and confess to every body that you .have 
injured. Practice it on all occasions, till you get the victory. 
Victory will come at last, if you are thorough. But there is no 
other way to get.the upper hand of your evil propensities. If 
you indulge the feeling, you are just as certainly ruined, as a 
man who loves liquor is sure to become a drunkard, if he con¬ 
tinues to drink. If he does not deny himself of every thing 
that can intoxicate or excite his appetite, he is gone. So with 
you, if you do not resist where you are exposed, you will just 
as surely go to hell as there is a hell. 

5. Exercise decision of character. In nothing is decision of 
character so indispensable as in religion. In nothing else are 
there so man}' influences bearing against a man, and so many 
things that are calculated to turn him back from his purpose. 
To walk with God a man must walk contrary to the course of 
this world. He must face public sentiment, and go abreast, 
not unfrequently, of the opinions of all the world, and nearly 
of all the church. If on the one hand, he can be awed by 
opposition, or on the other courted by smiles and flattery, he 
will be certain not to make headway, and stem the tide that is 
bearing him away from God. Very few persons exercise suf- 


430 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


ficient decision to maintain a spirit of prayer. No person can 
enjoy the spirit of prayer, who does not maintain a conscience 
void of offence, towards God and man. He must be willing 1 to 
know, and do, all his duty. If he draws back from doing what 
he sees to be duty, or if he neglects to search and know what 
his duty is, he cannot enjoy the spirit of prayer. But most 
men are so much the creatures of public sentiment, so easily 
deterred by enemies, or kept away from duty by the flatteries 
and persuasion of friends, that they grieve the Spirit of God, 
get into a temporizing, man-pleasing, man-fearing spirit, that 
dishonors God, and freezes the soul. A man must maintain 
great firmness of purpose, and»great decision of character, to 
be undeviating in the performance of secret duties. Men are 
so apt to neglect secret prayer and private duties, when they do 
not at the tim e feel like engaging in them, that without uncom¬ 
mon energy of character, even the form of private duties will 
be more or less punctually attended to, according to the state 
of feeling in which the Christian finds himself at the time. 

6. To grow in grace, a man must possess great meekness. 

Meekness is patience under injuries. If a man suffers him¬ 
self to be fretted by opposition, and thrown into, a passion by 
obstacles that are thrown in his way, he may rest assured that 
Satan will manage to keep him in such a state of mind, that he 
will by no means grow in grace. A want of meekness is a 
sad defect in Christian character. A spirit to resent every 
thing is extremely unlovely, unchrist-like, and wicked. And 
perhaps there are few things that more disarm professors of re¬ 
ligion, and nullify their influence as Christians, than a disposi¬ 
tion to fret. If a Christian does his duty, he must take it for 
granted that he will meet with opposition. And as long as the 
church is in such a state as it now is, he must expect often to 
receive the most determined opposition from those from whom 
much better things ought to have been. expected. In such 
cases he must learn to possess his soul in patience, and let pa¬ 
tience have its perfect work. When he is reviled, he must learn 
not to revile again. And if he is persecuted, to threaten not. 

Many individuals seem to attach great importance to their 
own reputation , and suppose themselves obliged to defend their 
character, for the honor of religion. I am afraid of this spirit. 

- It seems to me exceedingly unlike the spirit of Christ, who 
made himself of NO REPUTATION. He was reviled and 
slandered, and all manner of evil spoken against him, and yet 
he seems to have manifested no disposition to spend his time in 
going about, hunting up the authors of those slanders. He 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


431 


never acted as if he supposed that his honor, or the success of 
his gospel, required him to do so. And why the servant should 
be thought above his master, I do not know. 

V. I will mention some things that are evidences of declension. 

Those of you who were present at the last lecture will recol¬ 
lect that I preached on backsliding, and in the course of it men 
tioned several things that are evidences of backsliding, or de 
clension. I will now mention several others, that ought to be 
kept in view, as evidences of declension. 

1. The person who grows weary of being asked to give for 
promoting the kingdom of Christ, is evidently declining. He 
says, “ Now I think I have given about enough, there seems to 
be no end to it, and I mean to stop; there are so many agents 
constantly begging, it is time to break it up.” You hear a 
man talk in that style, depend upon it he is either a hypocrite, 
and has never given from right motives at all, or he is a back¬ 
slider, and is declining rapidly in piety. It is plain, that where 
a man gives from right motives, the more he gives, the more he 
loves to give. This holds just as true in regard to giving, as 
praying. If you find a man sick of giving to promote the 
kingdom of Christ, are you to call that man pious? Suppose 
he should get sick of praying, and say, “ There is no end to 
this, I may as well stop first as last, for if I go on in this way, 
by and by I shall have to pray all the days of my life.” Would 
any body pretend to give him the character of a pious man? 

2. Becoming backward to converse on the subject of religion, 
and particularly to converse on spiritual and experimental, and 
heart-searching points, is evidence of declension. Young 
converts, when they are in the ardor of their first love, delight 
to pour out their hearts in spiritual conversation. They 
love to talk of the* things of the kingdom. And when they lose 
their relish for this, you may be sure they are declining in 
piety. 

3. When a person is less disposed to engage in the duties 
of devotion, public, social, or private, it is a sign of declension. 
If he does not love so well to pray, and read his Bible, and. 
draw near to God, he must be declining in piety. 

4. Taking more delight in public meetings than in private 
duties and secret communing with God, is another evidence o! 
a declining state. Those who enjoy religion enjoy themselves 
nowhere so well as in secret. If you find it necessary to have 
the excitement of a meeting to stir up your feelings and create 
an interest in devotion, it 13 certain you are declining. 


432 


GROWTH IN GRACE 


5. Feeling less delight in revivals of religion, is a sad token 
of declension. The young convert delights in revivals. How 
eagerly he seizes the newspaper to see where there are revivals. 
How he dwells on such blessed outpourings of the spirit. But 
when he declines in piety, he becomes less anxious to know 
about revivals. Revival intelligence no longer gives such joy, 
or causes such bounding of heart, as it once did. When you 
see a professor of religion uninterested in accounts of revivals 
and in hearing of the conversion of sinners, be sure he is in a 
state. 

6. A person that becomes captious about measures used in 
promoting revivals, is in a declining state. If you find your¬ 
self growing very much afraid of the measures that good men 
pursue, and that God owns and blesses, for promoting revivals, 
you are evidently declining. If your heart was set on the 
object, then so long as you saw the object was gained, and 
sinners were brought in, the particular means by which it was 
done would give you no manner of concern unless they were 
manifestly wicked, and certainly you would not be disposed to 
take it for granted that they are wicked and unscriptural. But 
where you see people, I do not care who they are, beginning to 
be suspicious and captious and fretful about the means by which 
revivals are carried on, their heart is in a bad state. I do not 
mean to speak it unkindly, or disrespectfully, but I say it is a 
simple matter of fact that it is so. Men never act in this way 
when they are greatly engaged in promoting an object. They 
do not spend all their strength in finding fault with the means. 
See that man who is deeply engaged in carrying on an elec¬ 
tioneering campaign. Do you find him captious about measures ? 
What does he ask? “ Is our candidate elected ?” Not, “ Was 
the vote carried by new or old measures?” You would 
laugh at any man who should pretend to be zealously engaged 
in promoting a cause, if his first question and greatest concern 
was about the measures, and if he lost all his interest in the 
event unless it was accomplished by new or old measures. No 
doubt the devil laughs, if they can laugh in hell, to hear a man 
pretend to be very much engaged in religion, and a great lover 
of revivals, and yet all the time on the look-out for fear some 
new measures would be introduced. Such conduct is not 
natural, and people will not believe such professions of zeal for 
revivals. 

VI. I am to show how to escape from a state of declen¬ 
sion. 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


433 


1. You must admit the conviction that you are in a state of 
declension. One of the greatest difficulties with backsliders is 
to make them feel that they are backsliders. You continually 
hear them making excuses. They will not admit that they are 
in this sad state. When the condition of the backslider is 
described ever so plainly, they are exceedingly loth to admit 
that it means them. And until they admit this, there is no 
remedy. 

2. Apply to yourself all that God says to backsliders, just 
as if you were the only individual in the world in that con¬ 
dition. 

3. Find out the point where you began to decline. See what 
was the first cause of your backsliding, and give that up. You 
will often find this first cause where you did not expect it, in 
some things which you called a little matter, or that you tried to 
make yourself believe was not a sin. Multitudes have been 
kept down in this way, and perhaps have been trying hard for 
sanctification while holding on to some darling idol or some 
sensual indulgence. I knew a man who stood out in defending 
the use of tobacco, till it became a lust that eat out his spirit of 
prayer. Using some soft word, calling it a comfort or a me¬ 
dicine, or even baptizing it by a Christian name, and calling it 
a blessing of Providence, will not answer. God does not call it 
so. How many keep themselves in a state of decline and pretend 
not to know why it is so: “ O, no, I cannot tell why I should 
be so long in the darkwhen they are laying out God’s money 
to indulge their own appetite or pride. God will always hold 
them at arm’s length, and will frown upon them when they 
pray, unless they search out and remove the cause of their de¬ 
clension. 

4. Give up your idols. Whatever you find occupies your 
thoughts, and calls you off' from serving God, get rid of it, if 
you can. If it is an article of property, dispose of it in some 
way, give it away, sell it, burn it, away with it, rather than 
have it stand between you and God. 

5. Be careful to apply afresh to the Lord Jesus Christ, for 
pardon and peace with God. Go to him just as you did at 
first, as a guilty, condemned sinner, more deserving of hell than 
ever. Apply to this fountain, which is set open in the house of 
David for sin and uncleanness. Confess your sins fully, and 
forsake them, and thus return to God, and he will have mercy 
on you, and will heal your backslidings, and remember your 
iniquities no more. 

37 



434 


GROWTH IN GRACE 


REMARKS. 

1. There is no such thing a s standing still in religion. 

People talk as if religion was something they could cover 

up and keep, just as people cover up tire to keep it when they 
want to go to sleep, and then when they wake up in the 
morning, find a good bed of coals, all ready to kindle up 
again. This is all a mistaken idea. Religion is not such a 
kind of thing as they suppose. Religion consists in obedi¬ 
ence to God. And when a man has no obedience he has no 
religion. 

2. The idea that persons grow in grace during seasons of 
declension, is abominable. I have often heard people say, that 
it is necessary that revivals should pass away, in order to give 
religion time to take deep root. Nothing can be more ridicu¬ 
lous than to suppose a person can be making advances in reli¬ 
gion, when in a state of declension. Their whole progress is 
the other way. 

3. There are but few persons that do grow in grace. 

It is astonishing to see how little the generality of professors 
grow in grace. I have no doubt, that if persons would do as 
they might, and give the attention to it that they ought, the ge¬ 
nerality of professors might grow more in six months than they 
now do in all their lives. They might do more to counteract 
and remove all that is bad and to cultivate all that is good. 
One great reason why people do not grow in grace, is the erro¬ 
neous idea they have of religion itself. Religion has been too 
much looked upon as something separate from obedience to 
God. And hence people set themselves down in inaction, and 
wait for God to do a work in them, instead of setting them¬ 
selves at work to obey God. This notion of physical depravity, 
and physical regeneration, and physical sanctification is the 
great curse of the church It leads Christians astray, and hin¬ 
ders their growth in grace. How many, instead of setting 
themselves resolutely to obey God, and setting their faces as a 
flint against all sin, with a determination to break up all old 
habits and associations, by repeated acts of resistance, passively 
commit themselves to the stream, and expect to be wafted home 
to glory in this lazy way, without the trouble of a conflict. 

5. We see the great fault of ministers. 

How much they are to blame. How little pains they take 
to train up young converts. Go now over the ground where 
there have been some of the greatest revivals, and what will 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


435 


you see? Instead of finding the young converts built up in 
their most holy faith, growing in grace, and adorning the doc¬ 
trine of God our Savior, you hear all, old and young, com¬ 
plaining of general coldness. 

“ O ’tis a time of great stupidity, our church seem to be fast 
asleep, I do not know what we are coming to.” Whereas, if 
ministers had only gone to work, when there was a revival, and 
when young converts were brought in, had trained them up to 
work, taught them how to grow in grace, pointed out their 
dangers, rebuked their sins in season and in love, they might 
still have been growing Christians, an honor to Christ, and the 
strength of the cause, and the revival might have been pro¬ 
longed, and souls converted, to this day, Now where is their 
blood, and at whose hands will it be required ? One great 
reason why ministers do so little to make young converts grow 
in grace, is because they grow so little in grace themselves. I 
say it in kindness, but my duty requires that I should say it 
plainly to my brethren. Their studies are intellectual, and of 
course their progress is intellectual, and often they do not grow 
in grace, as it is necessary they should, in order to lead the 
church forward in Christian experience. They do not go into 
the subject at all lengths so that they can come forth from the 
very depths of spiritual experience, and teach the church I do 
not mean to say, that this is so with all Ministers, but it is evi¬ 
dently so with many. 

6. Unless ministers grow in grace, it is impossible for the 
church to grow. Ministers may preach the truth, but they will 
not enter into the experience oi Christians, so as to meet their 
wants, or tell them what to do in their various spiritual circum¬ 
stances, or warn them of their danger, or tell them howto meet 
or escape it. The minister must have experience, or he will 
be a blind leader of the blind. Like people like priest, is a 
maxim founded on principles of correct philosophy. 

7. Great pains should be taken by young ministers to grow 
in grace. 

I have found that many young men have been stopped from 
entering on a preparation for the ministry by witnessing the ex¬ 
perience of others in this respect. Others nave been driven to 
the conviction that they must stop studying or lose their piety. 
There is no need of this, if they would start right. O that I 
could make all young men hear this. There is no necessity that 
young men, preparing for the ministry, should decline. And 
yet how many do we find, that come out of college with hearts 


436 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


as hard as the college walls, and by the time they are throagh 
the seminary, their piety is well nigh all gone. They may 
keep up certain appearances because they are ministers, when 
it is manifest to all that their piety is nearly extinct. This is 
a grievous thing, but it needs to be told. If I could come in 
contact with the young men preparing for the ministry, and 
found them not growing in grace, I would advise them by all 
means to stop studying, and give up all idea of entering the 
ministry, unless they would recover their spirit of growing piety. 
They will only do hurt. They are worse than no ministers,— 
They will lead the church back, rather than forward. The 
church will follow the minister, and if the minister leads 
them back from God, they had better have no minister. The 
churches must be on their guard against this evil. I would tell 
young men, firmly but kindly, not to be ministers, unless they 
are growing Christians. 

When Christians generally shall feel this, and shall watch 
over young men, and when young men shall feel this watch of 
the church in every step of their path, pressing them up to duty, 
and urging them to be holy, then there will be a set of min¬ 
isters to convert the world. And net until then. As long as 
the great effort is to give young men intellectual strength, to 
to the almost entire neglect of cultivating their moral feelings, 
ilie church pever can convert the world. Do you see in our 
seminaries of learning any great effort to cultivate the moral 
feelings of young men ? I appeal to every young man who has 
been there. The race is an intellectual one. The excitement, 
the zeal, are all for the intellect. The young man who enters 
the lists, from the nature of the case, soon loses the firm tone of 
spirituality. And if he does not take the alarm in time, and 
break up his habits, he will lose his piety. His intellect im¬ 
proves, and his heart lies waste. While in college, he is sensi¬ 
ble that he does not feel right, but he says to himself, “ When 
I come to study theology, then I shall wake up and be all piety.” 

But alas ! when he comes to take up theology in a cold ab¬ 
stract way he finds his spirituality as little promoted as if he 
was studying Euclid. Then he goes on, learns to write a 
pretty sermon, and to stand and gesture according to rule, and 
preach his cold, formal writing, that has no more of God in it 
than the molten calf. The reason is, he has no Holy Ghost.— 
God is not with him, nor is it possible that he should be, when 
he has more brains than heart. How can such a ministry con- 
. vert the world ? There must be a general understanding on 


GROWTH IN GRACE, 


437 


this subject. The Education Society must see to it, the ministers 
must see to it, the churches must see to it, young men them¬ 
selves must see to it, and must be made to feel that the church 
has her eye on them, and expects them to maintain deep piety, or 
the world never can be converted. 

7. It is just as indispensable in promoting a revival, to preach 
to the church, and make them grow in grace, as it is to preach 
to sinners and make them submit to God. Many seem to think 
that if they can only get people converted, the whole ground is 
gained, and that they will grow in grace of course without any 
special aid. But the fact is, that young converts will no more 
grow in grace, without being properly preached to, than sin¬ 
ners will turn to God without being preached to. The truth, 
in the hands of the Holy Ghost, is just as essential to the 
one as to the other. If he converts a sinner, it is by employ¬ 
ing truths preached, which are adapted to that. And if he 
causes a convert to grow in grace, he must employ truths 
preached, which are adapted to that. The perseverance of 
the saint depends just as entirely upon having truth adapted 
to his state, as the repentance of a sinner depends on having 
truth adapted to his state. Until Christians give up entirely the 
idea of a physical religion, and understand that santification con¬ 
sists in obeying the truth, the church never will go along. 
There has been an oversight on this subject, in many protracted 
meetings, where almost all the preaching has been aimed for 
the conversion of sinners. In such meetings, at least half the 
preaching should be to the church. And it should be adapted 
to their state. The church must be preached to, where they 
are , just as sinners must be preached to where they are. 

8. See why revivals cease. 

When there is a revival, and Christians are awake, and get to 
a certain point, and then are carried no farther, the revival will 
cease of course. If the church is kept advancing, the revival 
will not cease. If the instructions given, and the measures pur¬ 
sued, keep the church going ahead, and the young converts 
growing in grace, the revival will go on. Let the minister 
keep pouring in the truth where they are, let him know fully, 
from time to time, the state of the church, and find out just what 
they need, and treat them thoroughly, and not suffer them to 
stand still for the want of being searched, and probed, and urged 
along in their course, and the revival may gain strength and 
power all the time. If the means could be made to bear upon 
the church, and upon the young converts, to keep them out of 


37 


438 


GROWTH IN GRACE. 


the way of sinners, and to keep them continually advancing in 
holiness, the revival would never cease. 

O, brethren, I wish you had patience, and I had strength 
enough to go on farther. There are so many points I wished 
to dwell upon before I closed this important subject. But if the 
Lord spares my life, I hope to have another opportunity of 
bringing them before you, when I return to the city in the 
fall. • 


THE END. 


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